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PIKAMID OF PAFANTLA, 



MEXICO, 



AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS: 



BY 



BRANTZ MAYER, 

SECKKTABY OF THE UNITED STATES LEGATION TO THAT COUNTRY IN 1841 AND 1842. 



THIRD EDITION, 



REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH THE HISTORICAL PORTION 
BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME. 




PHILADELPHIA : 
G. B. ZIEBER & COMPANY. 



1847. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by 

G. B. ZIEBER & COMPANY, 

in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

F!215 



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HONORABLE POWHATAN ELLIS, 



ENVOY EXTMORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENmRY TO MEXICO, 



THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 



BT HIS SINCERE FRIEND, 



BRANTZ MAYER. 



PHEFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



The public was kind enough to purchase the two first editions of this 
book within a few months after their publication. The work has, conse- 
quently, been out of print for more than a year, and I would not have ven- 
tured to offer a third edition, if the relations between Mexico and our Union 
had not seemed to indicate that a new interest has been aroused as to the 
condition and destiny of that distracted Republic. 

Since the year 1843, several revolts against the existing government 
have taken place in Mexico, and the diplomatic intercourse between us 
has been of increasing importance, not only on account of the Texan dis- 
pute, but in consequence of a growing anxiety as to what is likely to be 
hereaftei* our Southern boundary, and along what parallel of latitude it 
is to run westwardly towards the Pacific. 

These considerations have induced m^ to revise a work, which, three 
years ago, I prepared for the press in the brief space of thirty days ; 
and, — whilst I crave pardon for that act of indiscretion, and am thankful 
for the favor with which it, nevertheless, was welcomed — I must frankly 
declare that I have found no cause to alter the statement of a single fact 
or opinion. My aim was to present an unprejudiced picture of Mexico, 
and 1 hope I may be permitted to declare without vanity, that I have the 
satisfaction to know from Mexicans whose good esteem is worthy of all 
respect, that my views of their country and their character were received 
as the most just and favorable that had been published. 

The kind feelings with which I left Mexico in the winter of 1842 [ 
remain unchanged towards her true patriots, and towards the magnificent ' 
country which has been so convulsed and torn by the broils, the ambition . 
and the avarice of contending factionists. AVith Religious Toleration, 



XII PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

General Education, and entire Doniestic Tranquillity, what might not 
Mexico become, in a few years under the hand of a strong and virtuous 
Government ! During my residence there and my travels throughout 
the Republic, I had often to recognize fine talents, good personal qualities, 
and vast natural resources, but all, generally neglected or denied the 
opportunity of advancement, I never saw a modern plough on a Mexi- 
can farm, a rake in a husbandman's hand, a wheelbarrow in a labor- 
er's grasp, a cart bearing the ordinary burthens of trade, or a Bible 
in a Mexican house ! That strange race of antique men in which Celti- 
Gallic, Celt-Iberian, Carthagenian, Roman, Vandalic,Visigothic and Moor- 
ish blood had mingled, was, again, crossed in Mexico by the Indian, and 
even dashed, in some instances, with the African, It is a mosaic blood 
and furnishes a curious matter for the study of physiologists. It is a race 
striving for new things, yet regretting to quit its grasp on the old. In 
speculation it looks forward ; yet, in the Superstitions of Religion and in 
the crude primitiveness of Art and Trade, it cleaves to the past. Mexico 
is a graft rather of the wild Arab on the base Indian, than of the Spanish 
Don on the noble Aztec. From the bondage of superstitious custom 
Mexico requires disenthralment. But, to effect this delivery she must 
have TEACE imposed on her by a firm hand. Since 1823, no less than 
seventeen revolutions have succeeded her rejection of the Spanish yoke. 
Can it be said that such a nation is competent to govern itself? Has it 
ever governed itself? Nay, has it done so, peacefully, even for a single 
year ? Can such a miscalled democracy have an effective public opinion ? 
With rulers shifting like the winds, what permanent policy can such a 
government pursue. Indeed, in all her vicissitudes, in what has Mexico 
exhibited the slightest symptom of constancy, save in her deep, immedi- 
cable hostility to our Union ? 

If this were a mere abstract, sapless dislike, — a sort of hereditary hatred 
like that between France and England or between the Genoese, the Tus- 
cans and the Neapolitans — we might pass it over and trust to Time to 
make us better friends ; but this animosity is growing into an active, un- 
tiring, energetic, agent of annoyance, until we see no possible termina- 
tion to our difficulties but such authoritative interposition as will convince 
Mexico that this Union means to maintain its station as head of the Ameri- 
can governments, and is resolved to put an end forever to the idea of 
European interference in the affairs of our Continent, This is a policy 
that should be adopted, and, if successfully pursued, would unquestionably 
terminate in a firm alliance between the two Republics and the formation of 
a treaty, offensive and defensive, which would secure our perpetual amity. 

In regard to the domestic peace of Mexico, I have great hesitation in 
speaking with any certainty as to a mode by which it might be secured. 
The notion, broached in European and American papers, that Mexico is 
willing to establish a monarchy and receive a royal scion of some Euro- 
pean house to grace her throne, is only one of the thousand ridiculous 
surmises thai are hazarded by blundering paragraphists. Nothing can be 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. xni 

more unpopular in Mexioo with all classes than the hint of monarchy, save 
perhaps, a suggestion to fill the throne with a French or Spanish Prince. 
No one would venture on so perilous an eminence. The Church and the 
Military would oppose the scheme as inimical to their present power ; — 
the People would oppose it as at variance with the spirit of their Revolu- 
tion. The throne would soon be hewn to a block Despotism in Mexico 
must be masked, as it is wherever it exists in this century. 

I may be told that this is surely a very bad state of things and that 
humanity must mourn over the misfortunes of the race, but, that the peo- 
pie of the United States have no more right to interfere in the matter than 
they have to settle the domestic differences in the family of a neighbor 
who lives unhappily with his wife. I beg leave, however, to dissent from 
this opinion. Mexico is not merely a social neighbor whose rights are 
, guarded and whose offences are punished by municipal laws, but she is j 
one of the great family of nations on this Continent, striving to free her- 
self from the tutelage under which she groaned for three centuries, while 
the Spanish yoke hung round her neck. She is bound by international 
ties, pledged in international treaties, burthened with international con- 
tracts, and, above all, loaded with debts to foreigners, growing not only 
out of regular loans, but forced from individuals by exactions, wrongs, 
personal injury and enormous injustice. The whole foreign world, is 
therefore, directly interested in this distracted realm independently of the 
concern that all Christian men must feel in the progress of nations ; — but, of 
all parts of Christendom, none has so deep a stake in it as these United 
States. 

If, as in France, since the fearful revolution of '98, each popular out- 
break had been but a feebler swing of the great democratic pendulum, 
bringing it nearer and nearer to repose and tranquillity, we should bid 
these people " God speed," and hail them heartily on their way to republi- 
can greatness. But, instead of approaches to peace and happiness, the 
pendulum of Mexican revolutions has swung, with each vibration, further 
and further from the centre of gravity ; so that, instead of poising at 
length like a plummet above the Truth and the Right, it is now converted 
into a vast weapon, whose terrific gyrations threaten with ruin everything 
within the scope of its tremendous whirl. 

There is, however, another view of the matter, which should have 
weight in the consideration of Mexican affairs. 

A recent letter from Yucatan, received at New Orleans, by way of 
Mexico, says: / 

" The people of Yucatan are in daily expectation of declaring the in- 
dependence of that province. Offences on the part of the Mexican 
Congress towards Yucatan have dictated this step. Two assemblies, 
composed of the most distinguished personages, have already met to dis- 
cuss the measure of separation, and much is said of seeking assistance, 
should it be necessary, from the cabinet at Washington." 



XIV PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

Nearly four years ago, I took occasion, in a private interview with a 
distinguished statesman then in power, to indicate the probable disruption 
of the soi-disani Republic, of which this seems to be the premonitory 
symptom. The people of the Mexican Provinces will no longer consent 
to be the prey of the central chiefs, who make a Paris of the city of Mex- 
ico, and control the nation when they hold the key of the capital. Dis- 
tracted, dissatisfied, divided, fragmentary, each one will, perhaps, set up 
for itself — Zacetecas, Durango, Coahuila, California, and the rest, going 
off in separate discontent and establishing themselves as petty principal- 
ities. Each of these, in the course of a few years, will grow into little 
Mexicos. The concentrated venom of the whole Republic will be diffu- 
sed in weakened virus among the lopped members. Every clipped head 
of the original hydra will sprout into mimic serpenthood, and, although 
the hiss of the rattlesnake may not be as dangerous as the fang of the 
monster, yet the ultimate task of the Eagle, in controlling the dangerous 
brood, will be infinitely multiplied. 

I beg leave in writing thus of Mexican matters to be distinctly under- 
stood as not encouraging the conquest of that country or endeavouring to 
cherish the war and plunder spirit that would eagerly prey on the fair do- 
main of the invaded Republic. No such idea is seriously mine for a mo- 
ment ; but it is time that Mexico should be aroused to a sense of her own 
position, and it is still more important to have her future policy distinctly 
defined in relation to the affairs of this Continent and Europe. 

It has recently been asserted by an American writer that the Province of 
Rio de la Plata has been decimated during the administration of the celt' 
hrated Rosas, and the allegation is enforced by an extract from the " Tables 
of Blood," of which the following resume is given by Don Jose Rivera 
Indarte • 

Poisoned, 4 

Throats cut, 3,765 

Shot, r 1,393 

Assassinated, 722 

Slain in battle, 14,920 

Killed in skirmishes, Military punishments, &c., &c., 1,600 

22,404 

"During the frightful massacres of October, 1840, and April, 1842, 
the heads of well known citizens were paraded through the streets in 
carts, accompanied by indecent music and followed bv the cries of 'who'll 
huy f caches ? Who'll huy oranges ?' The bodies of other victims were 
exposed, naked, in the public market place, the severed heads adorned 
with blue ribbons — labeled, ' Beef with the hide on — Came con cuero !' 
One of the ornaments of the drawing-room of Rosas, which has been seen 
again and again by foreigners visiting at his house, is a glass case contain- 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. xv 

ing the salted ears of Colonel Borda, which were sent to the daughter of 
Rosas."* 

These and similar outrages are alleged as the cause of the recent in- 
tervention of England and France. The interference is said to be one of 
merciful humanity, and we trust that the continued succession of mobs and 
revolutions with which Mexico has been scourged for the last twenty years 
will not reduce her to the sway of some tyrant like Rosas who will deluge 
her with native blood and compel us to be no longer indifferent spectators 
of her misrule. 

In such a juncture the course of this country will be perfectly clear. 
True statesmanship looks steadily to the advancement of mankind — to the 
eradication of all brutality from our race — to the assertion of the omnip- 
otence of Peace and Reason in modern government. If it be the will of 
God that Christian civilization and refinement are to be spread over this 
world, I shall hail the day as a blessed one for the Mexican people when 
perfect peace and perfect alliance shall be established between us as In- 
dependent Nations. But if it be the Divine fiat that we are to interfere in j 
Mexican politics, and that the various bloods of the Mexican race are ' 
finally to mingle with the mighty stream of the Anglo-Saxon, which seems 
destined to fill every vein and artery of this mighty Continent, then, as- 
suredly, will our distracted neighbors, at length, secure to their country 
tranquillity, progress, and glory. 



Baltimore, 1846. 



* " Buenos Ayres and the Republic of the Banda Oriental," by Mrs. S. P. JenKins— 
in the American Review, vol. 3d, pp. 161, 163. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. : 

Voyage out, .--- - ..--«- 

LETTER n. 
Vera Cruz, ...-.----•- - 3 

LETTER in. 
Ride to Xalapa, and the Robbers on the road, .----.-9 

LETTER IV. 
Xalapa and Perote, .---- .....15 

LETTER V. 
Puebla, 23 

LETTER VI. 
Pyramid of Cholula, ..-.--.--.. 26 

LETTER VIL 
Last day's ride to Mexico, -------.--33 

LETTER Vm. 
The City of Mexico, .-.- 38 

LETTER IX. 
The City of Mexico, 48 

LETTER X. 
The City of Mexico, -,, -w-.--. 54 

LETTER XL 
ABuU-Fight, --' 1-58 



X CONTENTS. 

LETTER Xn. 
Virgin of Guadalupe, and Festival, ...---.. 63 

LETTER Xm. 
Court Ceremonies — General Santa Anna — Diplomatic Dinner, .... 70 

LETTER XIV. 
San Augustin de las Cuevas, and the Feast of San Augustin — Gambling and 

Cock-fighting, 76 

LETTER XV. 
Revolution — ^Wax-figures — Museum — Antiquities, ... - - 81 

LETTER XVL 
Museum and Antiquities, ..........90 

LETTER XVn. 
Teoyaomiqui— Mexican Mythology, ........ 109 

LETTER XVin. 
Priests — Temples — Sacrifices, .......... 115 

LETTER XIX. 
Mexican Calendar, . ......... 126 

LETTER XX. 
City of Mexico as it was at the Conquest, ....... 131 

LETTER XXL 
Murders — Tacuba — Festival of Remedios, ....... 140 

LETTER XXII. 
Carnival — Lent — Holy-Week, .....^.... 149 

LETTER XXIII. 

Neighborhood of Mexico — Chapultepec — Tacubaya, and the murder of Mr. Eger- 

ton — St. Angel — Desierto, ......... 156 

JOLUNAL 
Of a Journey in the Tierra-Caliente, being an account of a Visit to Cuemavaca, 
the Ruins of Xochicalco, Cavern of Cacahuawamilpa, Cuautla de Amilpas, 
and Mexican Haciendas, ......... 161 



CONTENTS. XI 

LETTER XXrV. 
Ascent to the summit of the Volcano of Popocatepetl, ..... 208 

JOURNAL 

Of a Journey to Tezcoco — the Pyramids of Teotihuacan — the Hill of Tezcosingo, 

&c. &c., and Account of American Antiquities, . - - . . 217 

LETTER XXV. 

Whence came the ancient Population ? Who built the Ancient Cities ? Who 

worshipped the Idols ? 254 

LETTER XXVI. ,. 

City of Mexico — Public Institutions — Prisons, and Prison Statistics — ^Academy- 
Private Collections, .......... 265 

LETTER XXVn. 

Desagua — Carriages — Mules — Troops — Music — Opera — Recruits — Theatres — 

Mexican Thieves — The Judge and Turkey, 282 

LETTER XXVIII. 
Mexican Character, .-....---.- 292 

LETTER XXIX. 

Territory — Population and Departments — Rates of Castes and Education — Schools 

and Colleges — Periodicals, ..-..-.- 299 

LETTER XXX. 
Commerce and Manufactures of Mexico, ....-..- 305 

LETTER XXXL 

Revenue and Resources of Mexico — Army — Navy — Produce of Mines — Total 

amount of Coinage — The Church — Its Wealth and Influence, . . - 317 

LETTER XXXIL 
Political History, - --..- 328 

LETTER XXXm. 
Political Prospects of Mexico, .......... 350 

Conclusion, ........•.-•« 355 



XII CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX NO. I. 

A Supplementary Letter on the Sandwich Islands, the Californias, and the foreign 

policy of the United States, in regard to the encroachments of England, 357 

APPENDIX NO. II. 
Letters from H. R. Colcraft, Esq., on American Antiquities, .... 379 

APPENDIX NO. III. 
Letter from Horatio Hale, Esq., on the Origin of the Mexican Tribes, . . 382 

APPENDIX NO. rV. 
Meteorological Observations in the City of Mexico, •-.... 384 

APPENDIX NO. V. 
Prices of Provisions, &c., &c. ......... 385 



MEXICO 



AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS 



LETTER I. 



VOYAGE TO VERA CKUZ. 



I LEFT New-York on the 27th of October', 1841, with a fair wind, and 
on the twelfth day after, at sunrise, saw the lofty peak of Orizaba^ towering 
above the distant line of the western horizon. 

I have rarely beheld a more beautiful sight than this was. The mar- 
itime Alps, as seen from the Gulf of Lyons, present a spectacle of great 
majesty and beauty. But this grand and solitar)' peak, lifting its head 
more than 17,000 feet above the ocean, the sentinel, as it were, of a land 
toward which you may still sail for days before you arrive, has struck 
every traveller with wonder since the daj'^s when Cortez first hailed it on 
his adventurous voyage for the conquest of Mexico. 

****** 

Our vessel has been quite full ^f passengers in cabin and steerage ; 
rnjerchants, going out to gather in their fortunes in this country ; manu- 
facturers, keen and thrifty, with their machinery, ready to take advantage 
of the ample profits to be reaped in the " cotton line" from the protection 
of national industry in Mexico; a German student, fresh from his alma 
mater, adventuring for fortune in Vera Cruz, in spite of all competition 
and the vomito; a gentle maiden, sighing for somebody at the end of the 
voyage; a staunch Scotch operative, with a wife and two children, the 
latter of whom made up in their little private volunteer squalls for the 
sea squalls we missed ' and last of all, a worthy old Italian fighter, who 
1 



2 MEXICO. 

had gone with Napoleon through all his campaigns, and, at length, deter- 
mining that war was not a thriving occupation, had pitched upon a way 
of making his fortune by taking a dapper little Mexican body, for his wife, 
and the "hatting business," as a trade. 

In fact, we had on board specimens of all that active industry and 
fearless enterprise, which push the fortunes of our native and adopted 
citizens all over the world, and make our country known as much by the 
resistless energy of her children, as by the political liberty they enjoy at 
home, or which is extended to them by the protection of her flag abroad. 

I commenced this voyage in low spirits, and with but a slight desire to 
partake of the pleasures of the cabin ; but, what with charming weather 
and good companionship, I was soon drawn forth from my state-room, to 
the social table, and rarely have I passed a more agreeable time in a 
voyage at sea. The variety of character thus blended together, was 
both amusing and instructive. There were tempers to suit the grave and 
the gay ; and when the hour came for separation, we met for the last 
time around the board with saddened hearts, at the contemplation of the 
certainty that by far the larger portion of us would meet no more, and 
that all were about to encounter the uncertainties of fortune in a strange 
country, amid prejudices, disease, and revolutions. 




LETTER II. 



VERA CRTJZ. 



YoTJ left me in sight of land-on soundings-with the Peak of Orizaba 
in full view, and although we presumed it highly probable that we 
would make our harbor before evening, yet were we disappomted. 
The wind became baffling toward noon, and notwithstandmg our captain 
was a brave man and stanch seaman, he determined, at nightfall, to 
avoid running close in with the shore, and therefore "lay to until day- 
light. Nothing could be more provoking ; the city was not more than en 
iniles distant, and the lights in the houses were distinctly visible over the 

^ WitTthe first streak of dawn, however, all was bustle on deck, and the 
topsails spread to the morning breeze. Day broke gloriously over the 
sea ; our colors were run up ; the ship headed for the harbor ; and when 
within a mile or two of -the castle, a pilot came on board. Our_ first m- 
quiry was as to the yellow fever-our next, as to the revolution. Of 
the first disease there were no remains, and the latter had termmated m 
ihe political death of Bustamante. . o. t 

At eicrht o'clock we moored under the walls of the Castle of St. Juan 
de Ulloa ; and in an hour afterward, with umbrellas spread to protect us 
from the scorching Novemler sun, we landed_ on the quay which has for 
so many years poured out the wealth of Mexico. 

Vera Cruz lies on a low, sandy shore, extending for miles along the 
coast I will not trouble you with the details of this city's history, famous 
as the spot where thousands have come to die of the vomito-ov, to make 
their fortunes (if they survi^ the certain attack of that disease,) and 
return with shattered constitutions to colder climates, to ache in memory 
of the heat they endured in Mammon's service. 

Landing at the Moletta, the first thing that struck me was a gang of 
more than a hundred galley-slaves, chained, and at work mthe broil- 
ing sun, cutting and carrying stone to repair the broken pier. i_ne 
second was the roofs of the churches, which seemed to be covered with 
mourning, as I supposed for some deceased prelate. The mourning 
turned out, however, to be nothing more than thousands of zopilotes or 
turkey-buzzards, the chief of which is usually perched on the peak ot 
the cross of the loftiest church-a sentinel for prey ! These two classes 
of folks, to wit : the galley-slaves and zopilotes, constitute a large part 
1* 



4 MEXICO. 

of the most useful population of Vera Cruz — the former being the city 
authorities' laborers, the latter the city authorities' scavengers. It is a 
high crime to kill a zopilote. He is under the protection of the laws, and 
walks the streets with as much nonchalance and as " devil-may-care " 
a look as other " gentlemen in black," who pick the sins from our souls 
as these creatures pick impurities from the streets. 

The Mole, or quay, is of good masonry and furnished with stairs and 
cranes for the landing of goods, though from the great violence of the 
ocean during the Northers, and the great neglect of proper repairs, it is 
likely to be entirely ruined. In heavy weather the sea makes a clear 
breach over it ; yet this, and the Castle of San Juan on a land-spit near 
a mile off, are the only protections for the shipping of all nations and the 
commerce of moi'e than half the Republic ! 

Passing from the Mole you enter the city by an unfinished gateway, 
near which Santa Anna lost his leg during the attack of the French in 
1838. Beyond this portal is a large square, which will be surrounded 
with custom-house buildings — though there is now scarce a symptom of 
them except in the granite stones, most of which have been imported from 
the United States. From this spot, a short walk to the left leads you to 
the arcade of a street, and you soon find yourself in the public square of 
the city, which, though small in its dimensions, is neat and substantial. 
On the east, north, and west, 'it is bounded by noble ranges of edifices, 
built over light arches — ^the one to the eastward, with its back to the sea, 
being the former Governor's residence, and still appropriated to the civil 
and military purposes of the State. On the south of the square is the 
parish church, with its walls blackened with sea-damps and zopilotes. 

The streets of Vera Cruz, crossing each other at right angles, are well 
paved with smooth pebbles, and the side-walks are covered with a cement 
resembling irescia. The houses, in general, are exceedingly well con- 
structed to suit the climate, and though not of very imposing architecture, 
yet with their flat roofs, parti-colored awnings and display of women and 
flowers from their balconied windows, make the city both cool and pic- 
turesque. Upon the whole, I must confess that I have seen worse look- 
ing cities than Vera Cruz, even in the " picture-land " of Italy ; and when, 
from the roofs of the dwellings, I look at the open sea in front, the exceed- 
ingly clean streets, and the desolate coast of sand and stunted shrubbery, 
which extends north and south as far as the eye can reach, I am at a loss 
to know why it is so cursed with disease. St. Augustine, St. Mary's, and 
a hundred places along our southern sea-coast, have infinitely more the 
appearance of nests for malai'ia. 

It is said, that in the early period of the history of this country. Vera 
Cruz was not so sickly as of late years, and that, although there were 
occasional attacks of violent fever, it was not until 1699 that the Black 
Vomit made its appearance. In that year an English vessel arrived in 
the port with a cargo of slaves, and with them came this fatal disease. 
The Spanish chronicles of the town, of that date, give the most fright- 



VERA CRUZ. 5 

ful pictures of its outbreak and of the heroism with which the priests 
(especially the Jesuits,) devoted themselves to the ill and dying; and the 
father Francisco Xavier Alegre dwells with pleasure on the self-sacrifice 
with which his holy brethren met the fell monster and ministered to the 
wants of the sufferers. 



. It was entirely too warm, even in this middle of November, to stir out 
of the house with satisfaction. We therefore dressed ourselves in sum- 
mer apparel, and took an excellent dinner very quietly, resolved not to 
expose our persons unnecessarily, as we understood there had been recent 
cases of vomito. A number of gentlemen called to see us, and I found 
the Governor and other officers exceedingly anxious to afford us all the 
protection in their power on the road to Mexico. They say that the coun- 
try has been lately scoured by troops of dragoons, but that it is still in- 
fested with robbers ; and, although we are to have a military escort, our 
friends appear to intimate that Colt's revolving pistols, double-barrelled 
guns, and a stock of resolution and coolness, will be our best safeguards. 
We have, therefore, taken the stage which will depart four days hence ; 
and as we are amply prepared with arms and ammunition, and a number 
of determined passengers, I trust we shall reach the capital without having 
our noses stamped in the ground after the most approved fashion of the 
Ladrones. 

At sunset, a countryman was so good as to call for us to walk with 
him to the Alameda. We sallied from the south gate, and took our way 
into a desolate and melancholy country. On every side were marks ot 
solitude and misery. The ruins of houses and churches, filled with 
weeds and creepers ; neglected fields, overgrown with aloes and made 
still more sad by the long pensile branches of the solitary palm ; and, over 
all lay the dark shadows of evening, as the last rays of the sun fell 
aslant on the stagnant pools. A sergeant was drilling a few recruits to 
the tap of the drum. The music seemed to be a dead march, and the 
step of the soldiers was slow and solemn. Nothing could be more dreary 
— more heart-sickening. We loitered on, like the rest of folks, but there 
was no liveliness — no spirit. The people were not cheerful and joyous 
as when abroad with us for an evening's promenade, but strolled along 
in silent pairs, as if oppressed by the sadness of the melancholy wastes 
on the one side, and the cold, dreary, illimitable sea on the other. 

The appropriate termination of this walk through the ruined Alameda, 
was the burying-ground. As we reached it, a funeral had just entered, 
and in the chapel they were saying some annual service *for the dead ! 
It may be wrong to indulge in such emotions, but here there really seems 
x,o be an utter hopelesAiess in death. We love to think, that when it falls 



6 MEXICO. 

to our lot to share the common fate of humanity, we shall, at least, re- 
pose near our kindred and friends, in some beautiful spot, where those we 
have loved shall moulder beside us, until the dust we cherished in life 
shall be as blent as were the spirits that animated it. We love to think 
that our graves will not be solitary or unvisited. But, on this dismal 
shore, where the Shadow of Death for ever hangs over the prospect, the 
grave is not a resting-place, even for tired spirits, and the soul seexns to 
perish as well as the body I 



I came home with as capital a " fit of the hlues" as ever was born in 
London of a gloomy November day and a melancholy temper ; and I 
must confess that I passed the night somewhat nervously. What with 
the heat and exercise, our bodies were rather tired ; but what with the 
vomito, the sad walk, and a little excitability, I do not remember to 
have slept a wink. In addition to these annoyances, there was a con- 
tinual hubbub in the square under our windows all night long. First 
of all, the guard was to be set, and that produced drumming, fifing, 
braying of trumpets, and bustle of troops ; next, my bed was too short 
for me ; then, just as I was coaxing myself into a doze, I discovered that 
the servant had neglected to put down the net, and consequently, came 
the onset of a colony of thirsty mosquitos, ravenous for the fresh blood 
of a foreigner, after having dulled their beaks a whole season on Mexi- 
can skins ; next, the clock on the opposite tower struck every quarter, 
and that was backed, with equal regularity, by the watchman under the 
portales, who prefaced his song with an " Ave Maria Purissima" that 
would have waked the dead. And thus from hour to hour I tossed and 
tumbled, while the clock struck, the watchmen howled, and the mosqui- 
tos sucked — occasionally amusing myself by trying to feel some of the 
symptoms of the vomito ! But day at length broke, and a cold bath and 
a hearty breakfast perfectly reestablished me. 

One of my fellow-travellers who was anxious to avoid the risk of wait- 
ing in Vera Cruz for the diligence, informed me about ten o'clock, that 
he had made arrangements for a " Zztera" to carry him to Xalapa, there 
to await the stage and rejoin our party. He was so good as to offer me 
a part of his couch, which I eagerly accepted, and immediately set to 
work packing my extra luggage for the Arrieros, as the diligence, and 
the niuleteei-s who accompany literas, will carry but a limited burden. 
At four the litera arrived, but the muleteers would, allow but one pas- 
senger ! There was nothing but submission. Pancho had his bundles 
strapped on, stepped into his vehicle, or rather stretched, out on its bed, 
lighted his cigar, tied on a Guayaquil sombrero, and waved us farewell. 

A litera is an article of rather curious conveyance. Here is a draw, 
ing of it. The pencil sperks better to the mind t^an any description J 



VERA CRUZ. 7 

can give you of it. It would create a sensation in Broadway, and is de 
cidedly more picturesque and comfortable than a cab or an omnibus. 




I send you some interesting tables as to the health and moisture of 
Vera Cruz, which I have compiled from accurate sources. 



Baptisms 



ACCOUNT OF IHE BAPTISMS AND BURIALS IN VERA CRUZ FOR 1841. 
Males. Fem. Tot. 



214 240 454] Marriages 



T ii -1-1 . Males. Fem, 

In the rarroqma . 215 271 
Hospital of St. Sebastian 254 000 



Total 



DEATHS. 
Tot. I 

486 'Hospital of Loreto 
254|Hosp. of S. Carlos 



Total 

37 



Males. Fem. Tot. 

000 146 146 

131 000 131 

600 417 1017 



From 1 to 7 - 
" 8 to 15 
" 16 to 25 . 



Vomito ... 
Small Pox . . . 
Fevers ... 
Phthisis and DiarrhcEa 
Convulsions 
Apoplexy . . . 
Dysentery 

Cholic . . . 

Pulmonia 

Pleurisy - - . 
Asthma . 

Causas - . . 

Gangrene 
Inflammation 
Cholera (glacial) 
Total 



Males. 
94- 
32 

188 



120 

64 

98 

151 

39 

10 

7 

3 

3 

3 



1 

7 

3 

1 



Fem. 

135 
36 

85 



Fem, 

36 

78 

44 

61 

11 

7 

22 

7 

5 

2 

4 

2 

5 

6 





.4GES. 
Tot. I 

229 From 26 to 50 

68 « 51 to 75 

2731 « 76 to 100 

DISEASES. 
Tot. 



155 

142 

142 

212 

50 

17 

29 

10 



Diabetes - 

Epilepsy 

Marasmus 

Leprosy 

Aneurism 

Abscess 

I Dropsy . 

Ulcers 

Flow of Blood . 

Child-birth 

Drowned 

Contusions - 

Wounds . 

Diseases of children 



Males. Fem. Tot. 

249 132 381 

35 23 58 

2 6 8 



Males. Fem. 



1 
1 



3 

10 
4 


1 

7 

63 





1 
1 
2 
1 
9 


12 

] 

.0 
99 



Tot. 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
4 

19 
4 
2 

12 

] 

1 

7 

162 



600 417 1017 



8 MEXICO. 

Thus, allowing the population of Vera Cruz to be about 6,500 (which 
I consider quite liberal,) you will perceive that one-sixth of the whole 
died in the course of the year ; of this, one-sixth — about an equal propor- 
tion — perished from vomUo. The ex-cess of burials over baptisms is 563. 
Diarrhoea, dysentery and vomito are the most fatal maladies. In 1842, 
I am told that near 2000 died of vomito in Vera Cruz. This, however, 
was owino- to the number of raw troops sent there from the interior, to be 
embarked for Yucatan. It is to be regretted, that I have no data from 
which I can inform you what is the relative proportion of the deaths 
amori"- natives and foreigners, and of those who visit Vera Cruz from the 
interior. It has struck me, nevertheless, that this document will be inte- 
resting to medical readers. 

It will be observed from the following table, that the amount of wa- 
ter which has fallen in each year, very far exceeds the quantity known 
to fall annually in any part of the United States. With us it scarcely 
exceeds four feet. It is not, however, difficult to account for the differ- 
ence. Vera Cruz, situated at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, backed 
by a lofty range of mountains rising beyond the limits of perpetual con- 
gelation, must necessarily be the recipient of the immense body of water 
held in solution by the hot intertropical air, and which is constantly car- 
ried along by the trade-winds, to be condensed against the cold moun- 
tains. This will sufficiently account for the fact ; although we were far 
from being prepared to expect its nature and extent to be such as is here 
stated. 

Feet. Inch. 
In the year 1822 there fell, 13, 1.5 in the 12 months. 

1823 15, 8.9 

1824 10, 8.1 « 

1825 10, 7.1 
1826* 5,4.4 

1827 21,2.8 10 ■ 

1828 12, 2.0 12 

1829 23, 2.3 

1830 18, 0.0 « 

* Tfais year was remarkably dry ; and was moreover characterized by universally severe weatiier npon tne 
coast, and a great destruction of shipping property. 



LETTER III. 

THE PJDE TO XALAPA, AND THE ROBBERS WE MET ON THE ROAD. ^ 

During the last two days of our stay at Vera Cruz, it blew a Norther. 
The wind was high, and made it impossible for ships to enter the port. 
We spent the last afternoon at the water-gate of the city, watching the 
waves as they spent their fury on the Mole; and the ships, anchored under 
the lee of the Castle, tugging at their cables like impatient coursers strug- 
gling to get loose. With these find adjuncts of marine scenery, and the 
low brooding clouds of the stormy sky, I have never beheld a scene more 
worthy of the pencil of our countryman, Birch. 

After supper we made our final preparations for departure. Trunks 
were strapped on the diligence, old and warmer clothing put on, and, at 
midnight, nine of us got into the American Coach for our journey to the 
Capital. 

The stories of numerous robberies, and the general insecurity of the 
road, had been dinned into our ears ever since we arrived. Scarcely a 
diligence came in that did not bring accounts of the levying of contribu- 
tions. Before we left the United States, many friends who had visited this 
country, warned me of my danger, and, advising me to prepare myself with 
a couple of Colt's revolvers, hoped that I might reach the Capital in safety. 

Now, for my own part, though not disposed to be rash on any occasion, 
I always received these tales " cum grano.'' But I nevertheless took the 
precaution to load my double-barrelled gun with large buckshot. S. 
prepared his double-barrelled rifle and a Colt's pistol with four discharges. 
J. took his Manton and horse-pistols. Another person had a pair of 
pocket-irons, and ground an old fashioned dress sword to a very sharp point. 
John, the servant, loaded a pistol and blunderbuss for the box ; and thus, 
harnessed and equipped, we sallied at midnight from the court-yard, as 
resolved as any men who ever went on feudal foray, to kill the first ill- 
looking miscreant who poked a hostile nose in our coach windows. By way, 
however, of making ourselves perfectly secure, and of passing the night 
with additional comfort, I took care, as soon as we were seated, to point 
my own weapon out of the window, and to see that my companions had 
their arms in such positions that if they did "go off," there would be no 
harm done, at least to the passengers. 

It was very dark when we issued from the gates of the cit}', where our 
passports were demanded. Accustomed, of late years, to the unmolested 
travelling of our Union, I had put mine at the bottom of the trunk, and 



10 MEXICO. 

forgot all about the necessity of having it in my pocket. The drowsy 
guard, however, took my word for the fact that I had one, and j)ermitced 
us to pass on. 

A warm, drizzling rain was pattering down, driven in by the Norther 
which was still raging and dashing the sea in long surges on tiie sandy 
beach along which our road lay for several miles. We could see nothing ; 
ihe way soon became almost impassable through the deep sand, though 
our heavy coach was drawn by eight horses ; and proposing that the cur- 
tains should be let down, at least on my side. I was soon in a profound 
sleep, nor did I awake until near sunrise as we were passing the estate 
of Santa Anna, at Manga de Clavo. His hacienda was in the distance, 
to the right of the road, and appeared to be a long, low edifice, buried 
•among forests, but without those signs of improvement and cultivation 
which make the property of our great landholders so picturesque. He 
owns an immense body of land in this neighborhood, lying for leagues 
along the road, but all seemed as barren and unattractive as the wild- 
ernesses of our far west. 

During the night, an escort of three troopers had joined us at Bocche- 
rone. At daylight I caught sight of them, for the first time, in their long 
yellow cloaks, trotting along behind us on their small but tough and 
trusty horses. They were three as poor looking wretches as I ever saw : 
one of them appeared to be just out of a fit of fever; the other a little the 
worse for an extra cup of aguardiente ; and the third, as though he had 
just recovered from a month's chattering of the ague. 

The road thus far had been tolerably good, although much cut up by 
the recent passage of baggage-wagons and trains of artillery. About 
seven o'clock we halted at the village of Manantial for breakfast. It is 
the usual stopping-place for the diligence, and we were of course immedi- 
ately supplied with chocolate and biscuit. Our servitor was the Padrone's 
wife ; and I could not help remarking her extreme beauty, and the mu- 
sical sweetness of her voice, as she attended at the counter of her hut. 
Her Spanish was almost as liquid as Italian, and as soft as her eyes. 

The houses in this part of Mexico are mostly built of split bamboos, set 
upright in the ground, with a steep roof, thatched with palm-leaves, and 
prepared of course, to admit freely the sun, wind and rain, which, during 
the season, is sufficiently abundant. Upon the whole, they are very 
respectable and picturesque chicken-coops. 

Here our guard quitted us. It seems, notwithstanding the written 
orders and promise I had from the commandant at Vera Cruz for an 
escort, that these fellows had received no directions to accompany us, 
and had only ridden thus far because they thought the new Minister of 
Finance, Senor Trigueros, was in the stage. But I can scarcely think 
they were a loss. While my companions were finishing their lunch, I 
took occasion to examine their arms, not looking, however, at m.ore than 
one carbine, and that I found had lost the catch of its cock, which ot 
course always lay against the covering of the pan, pressing it open. I 



TOXALAPA. 11 

mentioned this to the trooper, and asked him where he put the powder ? 
" There, to be sure," said he, pointing to the pan. " And how do you fire 
it?" "Pshaw," replied the fellow, staggering off — "'tis letter so." He 
was half drunk, and as ridiculous as his weapon. If these are the soldiers 
of Mexico, they hardly rise to the dignity of respectable scare-crows. 

We were soon called lo coach, and mounting our vehicle with better 
spirits for the refreshment and morning air, we shortly entered a rolling 
country, with an occasional ruinous hamlet and plantation. Although 
the scenery was in spots exceedingly romantic, interspersed with upland 
and valley, and covered with a profusion of tropical trees and flowers, 
there was over the whole an air of abandonment which could not fail to 
strike one painfully. In a new country, as a traveller passes by a soli- 
tary bridle-path, over the plains and hills, hidden by the primeval forests 
fresh as they came from Nature's hand, there is matter for agreeable 
reflection, in fancying what the virgin soil will produce in a few years 
when visited by industry and taste. But here. Nature instead of being 
pruned of her luxuriance with judicious care, has been literally sapped 
and exhausted, and made old even in her youth, until she again begins to 
renew her empire among ruins. It is true, that traces of old cultivation 
are yet to be found, and also the remains of a former dense population. 
The sides of the hills, in many places, as in Chili and Peru, are cut into 
terraces; but over those plains and slopes is spread a wild growth of 
mimosas, cactus, and acacias, while a thousand flowering parasite-plants 
trail their gaudy blossoms among the aloes and shrubbery which fill up 
the rents of time and neglect in the dilapidated buildings. It is the picture 
of a beauty, prematurely old, tricked out in all the fanciful finery of 
youth ! 

We wound along among these silent hills until about ten o'clock, when 
a rapid descent brought us to the National Bridge, built by the old Span- 
ish Government, and enjoying then the sounding title of Puente del Rey. 
Changed in name, it has not, however, changed in massive strength, or 
beauty of surrounding scenery. Indeed, the neglect of cultivation, has 
permitted Nature to regain her power, and the features of the scenery are 
therefore more like those of some of the romantic ravines of Italy, where 
the remains of architecture and the luxuriant products of the soil are 
blent in wild and romantic beauty. 

The Puente Nacional spans the river Antigua, which passes over a 
rocky bed in a deep dell of high and perpendicular rocks. The adjacent 
heights of this mountain pass have been strongly fortified during the wars; 
among their fastnesses and defiles the revolutionary generals lay con- 
cealed in Iturbide's time, and finally descended from them to conclude 
the fight in favor of independence. 

At Puente, there is a village containing the usual number of comforta- 
ble cane huts, before which the neighboring Indians had spread out for 
sale their fruits and wares; while the Mexicans (as it was Sunday) were 
amusing themselves by gambling at mont6 for clacos. At the inn a break- 



12 MEXICO. 

fast of eggs and frijoles was prepared for us. The eggs, the beans, the 
bread, and a bottle of tolerable claret went down famously, with the sea- 
soning of our mountain appetites ; but I cannot say as much for the stew 
of mutton and fish fresh from the river. What with onions, and lard, and 
garlic, and chile peppers, I never tasted such a mess. We unanimously 
resolved to leave it as a precious ionn,e louche for some Spanish succes- 
sors, to whose bowels such a compound may bo more savory than to North 
Americans. 

Having dispatched this collation, we again mounted the diligence. I 
had seen an officer in command of some cavalry at the door of our inn, 
and recollecting that the succeeding post is represented to be one of the 
most dangerous on the route, I told our Yankee driver that I thought he 
might as well take my order for the escort, and a bundle of cigars, and 
try their effect upon the military. Whether it was the order or the Prin- 
cipes I am unable to say, but four dragoons were immediately mounted 
for our service. If the odor of that offspring of the " Vuelta de Abajo" 
still floats in the memory of the Lieutenant, and a well-supplied traveller 
happens hereafter to pass the Puente Nacional while he is in command, 
let me suggest that a similar gift may be received as thankfully and ef- 
fectively. When our driver cracked his whip, and the horses sprang off 
from the lassos of the grooms at full gallop, the " bold dragoon " stood 
with cap in hand, and I could catch a glimpse of a head bowing most 
gracefully in the midst of a cloud of fragrant smoke. 

Our route westward to Plan del Rio was through a mountainous coun- 
try of short and gradual ascents, in most of its characteristics resembling 
the one we had passed over during our morning ride. At length, a steep 
descent over a road as smooth as a bov/ling-green brought us to the village 
of Plan. The guard trotted after us leisurely ; the day had become 
cloudy and the scenery dreary, and the fear of robbers among these soli- 
tary wildernesses again came over us. We felt, indeed, more anxiety 
than since our departure. 

Mine host at Plan del Rio received us warmly, though his house was as 
cold and uninviting as the day. He speedily produced a smoking dinner 
of fowls and rice, to which I found myself able to do but little justice. 
But the dinner had been served — we had tasted it — a bottle of claret had 
been drunk, and though our appetites had been frugal, the nine of us were 
obliged to pay two dollars each for the service ! The two fowls which 
made the stew, cost, at the most, a real each ; the rice as muchjthe salad 
grew for the planting, and the claret stood our host about seventy-five cents 
the bottle.: so, for what, with service and cooking and original cost, taxed 
our Padrone not more than three dollars at the extreme, he had the modest 
assurance to charge our coach-load eighteen ! If this statement will induce 
any of our enterprising Yankee boys, who are whittling sticks for want 
of knowing how to turn an honest penny, to come out to Plan del Rio and 
set up an " Opposition Stage-House," I wish them joy of their under- 
taking. Jt absolutely requires, as I have shown, no capital worth men- 



TO XALAPA, 13 

tionmg, besides a table, a dozen chairs, knives, plates and forks, a few 
strings of Weathersfield onions, and flexibility of limbs and countenance 
to grace the thousand shrugs, apologies, compliments, humbug and grim- 
aces necessary to make a successful innkeeper in a Spanish country. 

At Plan our guard left us — as the lieutenant's command extended no 
farther. Our host of the flexible face and productive cookery, insisted 
that there was not much danger, besides which there were no troops on the 
station ; so he bowed us to the coach door, and declared for the fiftieth 
time that he had been delighted to see us, hoped we would not fail to call 
again if we returned, and assured us that he only kept a few choice bottles 
of his claret for such "caballeros " as we were ! 

What with sour wine, sour spirits, and imposition, I doubt much if there 
was ever an angrier coach-load on any highway. We were effectually 
ill-tempered, and we looked to our primings with the full disposition to 
defend ourselves nobly. It would have fared ill with any one who had 
ventured to attack us during our first hour's ride. In addition to this, our 
road, as soon as it left the river, ascended rapidly and passed over a track 
which would in any other country be called the bed of a mountain stream, 
so rough and jagged was its surface. Although it is the duty of the Gov- 
ernment to keep this highway in order, yet as the chief travelling is on 
horseback, and the principal part of merchandise is transported on mules, 
no one cares how these animals get along. Sure-footed and slow, they 
toil patiently am.ong the rents and rocks, and their drivers are too well used 
to the inconveniences to complain. Besides this, in case of insurrections, 
it is better for the roads to be in bad condition, as it prevents easy com- 
munication between the several parts of Mexico, and the disjointed stones 
serve to form, as they have often done, breastworks and forts for the insur- 
gents. 

But over this mass of ruin we were obliged to jolt in the ascent of the 
mountain, during the whole afternoon, meeting in the course of it fifty 
wagons laden with heavy machinery for factories near Mexico. 

I must not forget to mention one redeeming spot in the gloomy even- 
ing. On looking back as we were near the summit of the mountain, 1 
caught a glimpse of the plains and hills over which we had been all day 
toiling. The view was uninterrupted. Before us lay valley upon val- 
ley, in one long graceful descending sweep of woodland and meadow, 
until they dwindled away in the sands to the east, and the whole was 
blent, near the horizon, with the blue waves of the Gulf of Mexico. Just 
then the sun broke out from the region of clouds which we were rapidly 
approaching in our ascent, and gilding, for a moment, the whole lowland 
prospect, I could almost fancy I saw the sparkle of the wave crests as 
they broke on the distant and barren shore. 

At the village on the mountain we could get no guard. This is said 
to be a very dangerous pass ; but the commanding officer told us he had 
been stationed here for two weeks, during which he had scoured the moun- 
tains in every direction, and believed his district to be free from robbers. 



14 MEXICO. 

Cigars would not avail us this time ! His men were tired and he could 
give no escort. 

Night soon fell dark and coldly around us. In these elevated regions 
the air is cold and nipping ; but we dared not put down our coach cur- 
tains for fear of an attack. We therefore donned our cloaks and over- 
coats, and laid our guns and pistols on the window-frames. John, the old 
gray hero, was on the look-out, with his blunderbuss, from the box, and 
the driver promised to have an eye to windward. 

ThuskWe jolted on again, at times almost stalled, and, in sudden smooth 
descents, swinging along with a rapidity in the dark and moonless night, 
that seemed to threaten our destruction among the rocks. Six, seven, 
eight, and half-past eight o'clock passed, and no robbers appeared, though 
there had been several false alarms. The road became worse and worse, 
the coach heaving over the stones like a ship in a head sea, and the dri- 
ver being obliged to descend from his seat and feel for the track. We 
saw lights passing over the heath in many places, and it was surmised 
they might be the signal lights of robbers. After due consultation, it 
was determined that they were ! As we approached them they proved to 
be fire-flies ! We felt for our percussion-caps and found them all right, 
and, at that moment, the coach was brought to a dead halt in the blackest 
looking ravine imaginable. 

" A mighty bad road, sir," said John, from the box, cocking his blun- 
derbuss. Its click was ominous, and we were at once on the alert. 
" There is something Mack — on horseback — ^^just ahead of us," added he. 
A whistle among the bushes. Crack went the whip unmercifully over 
the mules, and at ten paces in advance', up rose " the something hlack" 
and away ti'otted three cows ! 

I confess to a little anxiety as I cocked my gun after John spoke of 
the " something black.'' It is enough to make one a little nervous, boxed 
up with nine in a coach, on a dark night, on a bad road, to be shot at by 
" something black.'' But when the danger turns out to be a peaceful cow, 
one feels quite as ridiculous as he had before felt nervous. As we had 
indulged in enough of that sort of excitement, I uncocked my gun, put 
the muzzle out of the window, and, keeping a finger on the trigger, re- 
signed myself to a nap in the corner. 

Jolts, pitches, tosses, nothing, woke me, until a rough voice bellowed 
in my ear : " There they are !" I was aroused in a moment, and moving 
my thumb to cock my gun, I found myself disarmed. The coach was 
at a halt, and strange voices and lights were around it. 

It was a minute before I could shake off" the oppression of my deep 
slumber and found that my neighbor had quietly pilfered my gun during 
my sleep, and that we were waiting while the guard at the garita of Xa- 
lapa examined our way-bill ! 

In a few moments we were again en route, and at half-past nine rolled into 
the court-yard of an excellent inn at Xalapa, where a good meal that served 
both for dinner and supper, seasoned the joke of my dextrous robbery. 



LETTER IV. 



XALAPA AND PEROTE. 



When the Neapolitans speak to you of their beautiful city, they call 
it, "a piece of heaven fallen to earth j"* and tell you to "see Naples 
and die /" 

It is only because so few travellers extend their journey to Xalapa and 
describe its scenery, that it has not received something of the same ex- 
travagant eulogium. I regret exceedingly that my stay was so limited 
as not to allow an opportunity of beholding the beautiful views around 
the city, under the influence of a serene sky and brilliant sun. 

The town has about ten thousand inhabitants, and is, in every respect, 
the reverse of Vera Cruz ; high, healthy, and built on almost precipitous 
streets, winding, with curious crookedness, up the steep hill-sides. This 
perching and bird-like architecture makes a city picturesque — although 
its highways may be toilsome to those who are not always in search of 
the romantic. 

The houses of Xalapa are not so lofty as those of Vera Cruz, and their 
exteriors are much plainer ; but the inside of the dwellings, I am told, is 
furnished and decorated in the most tasteful manner. The hotel in which 
we lodged was an evidence of this ; its walls and ceilings were papered 
and painted in a style of splendor rarely seen out of Paris. 

Before breakfast we strolled to the Convent of St. Francisco, an im- 
mense pile of buildings of massive masonry, and apparently bomb-proof. 
The church is exceedingly plain, but there is a neat and tasteful garden 
with a lofty wall. This convent also possesses a court-yard of about one 
hundred feet square, with an arcade of two stories, the upper part of 
which contains a series of spacious cells ; but the whole edifice has a 
ruined appearance, having once been converted into a cavalry barrack, 
where the bugle as often sounded the morning call as the bell summoned 
to matins. 

From the top of this conventual edifice there is a fine view of Xalapa 
and its vicinity. We could see the town straggling up its steep and 
irregular streets ; but much of the adjacent scenery, and especially those 
two grand objects in the descriptions of all travellers, the Peak of Ori- 
zaba and the Coffre of Perote, were entirely obscured by a cloud of 
mist which hung around the valley in a silvery ring, inclosing the ver- 

* " Un petxe de cielo eaduto tn terra.' 



16 MEXICO. 

dure of the glade like an emerald. The vapor, rising from the sea, 
driven inland by the northern winds, here first strikes the mountains ; and, 
lodging in rain and mist and dew among the cliffs, preserves that peren- 
nial green which covers this teeming region with constant freshness and 
luxuriance. Xalapa is consequently a " damp town," yet it enjoys a 
great reputation for salubrity. It is now the best season of the year; 
but scarcely a day passes without rain, while the thermometer ranges 
from 52° to 76°, according to the state of the clouds and winds. As 
soon as the mountains have discharged their vapors, the sun blazes forth 
with a fierceness and intensity, increased by the reflection from every 
hill, into the town, as to a focus. 

Yet I saw enough to justify all the praises even of extravagant admirers. 
Its society is said to be excellent, and its women are the theme of the 
poets throughout the republic. As I descended from the top of St. Fran- 
cisco and wended my way to the hotel, I met numbers of the fair doncellas 
lounging homeward from early mass. The stately step, the liquid eye, 
the pale yet brilliant cheek, and an indescribable look of tenderness, com- 
plete a picture of beauty rarely matched in northern climes, and else- 
where unequalled in Mexico. 

After dispatching our breakfast, for which we paid (together with our 
night's lodging and dinner) the sum o^ four dollars, we mounted the dili- 
gence at 10 o'clock, prepared as usual for the robbers, and set out for 
Perote. 

In driving from the town we passed through the public square ; and in 
the market which is held there I first saw in perfection the profuse quan- 
tity of tropical fruits (and especially the chirimoya, and granadita,) for which 
Xalapa is renowned. The market is supplied by the numerous small 
cultivators from the neighborhood, the females of whom bear a resem- 
blance to our Northern Indians, which is perhaps even stranger and more 
remarkable than that of the men. 

Maiz, the great staff of life for biped and quadruped in our western 
world, is chiefly used in the tortilla cakes of which we hear so much from 
Mexican travellers. 

The sellers of these tough, buckskin victuals, sit in lines along the curb 
of the side-walks with their fresh cakes in baskets covered with clean 
napkins to preserve their warmth. There they wait patiently for pur- 
chasers ; and as tortillas, with a little cMU, or, red pepper boiled in lard, 
are indispensable at least twice a day for the mass of the people, they are 
quite sure of a ready sale. 

With the great mass of Mexicans there is no such thing as domestic 
cookery. The laborer sallies forth with his clacos in his pocket, and two 
or three of them will purchase his cakes from an Indian woman. A few 
steps further on, another Indian woman has a pan boiling over a portable 
furnace, and containing the required beans or chile. The hungry man 
squats down beside the seller — makes a breakfast or dinner table of his 
knees — ^holds out his tortilla spread flat on his hand for a ladle of chil^ 



MEXICO. 



17 




MAKING TORTILIAS. 



and a lump of meat — then doubles up the edges of the cake sandwich 
fashion, and soon until his appetite is satisfied. He who is better off in 
the world, or indulges occasionally in a little extravagance, owns a clay 
flatter. Into this he causes his frijoles, or cliiU and meat, to be thrown, 
and making a spoon of his tortilia, gradually gets possession of his food, 
and terminates his repast by eating the spoon itself! There is great 
economy in this mode of housekeeping, which recommends itself, espe- 
cially, to the tastes of old bachelors. There are no dishes to be washed 
— no silver to be cleaned, or cared for. Your Indian — flings down his 
clacos — stretches himself to his full height — gives a valedictory grunt of 
satisfaction over a filled stomach — and is off to his labor. 

Thus wonderful is the frugality not only of the humbler classes, but, 
indeed, of almost all who have come under my observation in Spanish 
America. Whether this frugality is a virtue or the result of indalence, 
it is not necessary for me to stop to enquire. The reader may draw his 
own conclusions. But all classes are content with less physical comfort 
than the inhabitants of other countries. .Their diet is poor, their lodging 
miserable, their clothing coarse, inelegant and inadequate for the climate ; 
and yet, when the energies and intelligence of the very people who seem 
so supine are called into action, few men manifest those qualities in a 
higher degree. Let me, as an illustration, notice the Arrieros, or com- 
men carriers of the country, by whom almost all the transportation of the 



18 MEXICO. 

most valuable merchandise and precious metals is conducted. They 
form a very large proportion of the population, yet, by no similar class 
elsewhere are they exceeded in devoted honesty, punctuality, patient 
endurance, and skillful execution of duty. Nor is this the less remarka- 
ble when we recollect the country through which they travel — its disturbed 
state — and the opportunities consequently 'afforded for transgression. I 
have never been more struck with the folly of judging of men by mere 
dress and physiognomy, than in looking at the Arrieros. A man with 
wild and fierce eyes, tangled hair, slashed trowsers, and greasy 
jerkin that has breasted many a storm — a person, in fact, to whom you 
would scarcely trust an old coat when sending it to your tailor for 
repairs — is frequently in Mexico, the guardian of the fortunes of the 
wealthiest men for months, on toilsome journies among the mountains and 
defiles of the inner land. He has a multitude of dangers and difficulties 
to contend with. He overcomes them all — is never robbed and never 
robs — and, at the appointed day, comes to your door with a respectful 
salutation, and tells you that your wares or monies have passed the city 
gates. Yet this person is often poor, bondless and unsecured — with noth- 
ing but his fair name and unbroken word. When you ask him if you 
may rely on his people, he will return your look vvith a surprised glance, 
and striking his breast, and nodding his head with a proud contempt that 
his honor should be questioned, exclaim : " Soy Jose Maria, Seiior, por 
veinte aiios Arriero de Mexico — todo el mundo me conoce .'" 

" I am Jose Maria, sir, I 'd have you know — an Arriero of Mexico for 
twenty years — every body knows me !" 

I regret, that I have been able to give only the faintest pencilling 
outlinB of Jalapa, which, with all its beauty, has doubtless hitherto been 
associated most nauseously iu your mind with the drug growing in the 
neighborhood to which it has given its name.* 

A beautiful scene, embracing nearly the whole of this little Eden, 
broke on me as we gained the summit of the last hill above the town. A 
dell, deep, precipitous, and green as if mossed from the margin of a wood- 
land spring lay below me, hung on every side with orange trees in bloom 
and bearing, nodding palms and roses and acacias scenting the air with 
their fragrance, and peering out among the white walls of dwellings, con- 
vents, and steeples. In the next quarter of an hour, the mists that had 
been gathering around the mountains, whirled down on the peaks along 
which we were travelling, and as the wind occasionally drifted the vapor 
away, we could see around us nothing but wild plains and mountain 
spurs covered v/ith volcanic debris, flung into a thousand fantastic forms, 
among which grew a hardy race of melancholy-looking pines, interspersed 

* To ?ive you an idea of the profusion of fruit in Jalapa 1 will state a fact. 1 gave a French senant a real 
'twelve and a half cents) to purchase me a few oranges, and in a short time he returned vvith a handkerchiei 
bui-sting under the load— he had received forty for the money. 

I told the story to a Julapenian with surprise : " They cheated him," said he ; " they should have given him 
nearly double the number." 




ARRIEBOS. 



PLAINOFPEROTE. * 19 

with fallen trunks, aloes and agaves. Thus the road gradually as- 
cended among desolation, until we reached a height where the clouds 
were lodged on the mountain tops, and a cold, drizzling rain filled the air. 
In this disagreeable manner, travelling among the clouds, we reached 
the village of St. Michel, and afterward La Hoya, over a road paved 
with basalt. From the latter place the scenery is described as magnifi- 
cent when the day is clear, and the sun is out in its brilliancy. The 
vapor is said to be then spread out below you like a sea, and the moun- 
tain tops and little eminences peer above it like so many islands. 

We passed through the village of " Las Vigas," described by Humboldt, 
as the highest point on the road to Mexico. The houses in this neighbor- 
hood are of different construction from those below the mountains, and 
are built of pine logs, each tree furnishing but one piece of timber of four 
inches thickness, and the whole width of its diameter ; these are hewn 
with the axe, and closely fitted. The floors of the dwellings are laid with 
the same material, and the roofs are shingled. As the houses indicate a 
colder climate than the one through which we have recently travelled, so 
does also the appearance of the people, who are hardier and more robust 
than the inhabitants of the plains skirting the sea. 

After winding along the edge of the mountain for some hours, we ob- 
tained an occasional view of the plain of Perote, level as the ocean, and 
bounded by the distant mountains. The Peak of Orizaba again appeared 
in the southeast, while the Coffre of Perote towered immediately on our left, 
and, seemingly in the midst of the plain, rose the Peak of Tepiacualca. 
Beyond it, on the remotest horizon, was sketched the outline of the snow- 
capped mountains. All these plains have doubtless been the basins of 
former lakes ; but they now appear dry and arid, and it is not easy to 
distinguish how far they are cultivated at the suitable season. During 
the summer, they present a very different prospect, and, losing the guise 
of a waste moor, only fit for the sportsman, put on a lively livery of cul- 
tivation and improvement, far more agreeable than the dark and thorny , 
maguey and the wilted foliage of dwarfish trees, with which they are now 
mostly covered. We occasionally see the stubble of last year, but the 
chief agriculture is evidently carried on upon the slopes and rising ground, 
where the irrigation is more easy from the adjacent mountains and is not 
so rapidly absorbed as in the marshy flats. 

We had not travelled this road without oui usual dread of thieves. 
Our guns were constantly prepared for attack, and we kept a wary watch, 
although during nearly the whole day we were accompanied by a party 
of lancers, who clattered behind us on nimble horses. Some leagues 
from Perote we approached the " Barranca Seca," a noted haunt of the 
ladrones ; and as we came within gunshot of the place, a band of horse- 
men dashed out from the ruins of an old hacienda on our right and gal- 
loped directly to the carriage. The mist had again come down in heavy 
wreaths around us, obscuring the prospect at a dozen yards distance; 
and the guard of troopers had fallen considerably in the rear. What 



20 MEXICO. 

with the fog and the dread of our foes, we were somewhat startled— 
cocked our weapons — ordered the coach to stop — and were half out of it, 
when the lancers reined up at full tilt, and after a parley with the new 
comers, assured us that they were only an additional troop kept here for 
security. I questioned, and still doubt the truth of this story, as I never 
saw a more uncouth, or better mounted, armed and equipped set of men. 
Their pistols, sabres, and carbines were in the best order, and their horses 
stanch and fleet; but they may have composed a band of old well-known 
robbers, pensioned off by the Government as a guard ; and willing to take 
regular pay from the authorities, and gratuities from travellers, as less 
dangerous than uncertain booty with constant risk of life. 

Accompanied by these six suspicious rascals and the four lancers, we 
quickly passed the wild mist-covered moor, and entered the Barranca, a 
deep fissure worn by time and water into the plain, and overhung, on all 
sides by lofty trees, while the adjacent parts of the flat country are cut 
up into similar ravines, embowered with foliage. With all the aids of 
art, the thieves could not have constructed a more suitable covert ; and, 
to add to our dismay, soon after entering the Barranca, our coach broke 
down ! 

We tramped about in the mud while the accident was repairing, and 
the guard and its auxiliaries scoured the pass. The quarter of a mile 
through which the ravine extended was literally lined with crosses, mark- 
ing the spot of some murder or violent death. These four or five hundred 
mementos mori, seemed to convert it into a perfect graveyard ; Avhile the 
broken coach, the dreary day, shrouding mist, approaching night, and 
savage figures in the scene, made a picture more fit for a Trappist than 
a quiet traveller fonder of his ease than adventure. 

We were, however, soon again in our vehicle, and for an hour after- 
ward the country gradually ascended, until, at sunset, the sky cleared off 
and we entered Perote by a brilliant starlight. 

Perote is a small town, containing not more than 2500 people. It is 
irregularly built ; the houses are only of one low and dark story, erected 
around large court-yards with the strength of castles. In the middle of 
the town there is a large square, abundantly supplied by fountains of pure 
water from the neighboring hills. 

The Meson is at the further end of the town, and incloses a spacious 
court-yard, around which on the ground floor (which is the only floor) are 
a number of brick-paved, windowless stalls, furnished with a bed, a couple 
of chairs, and a table. No landlord made his appearance to welcome 
us. We waited a considerable time in the court-yard for his attendance ; 

but as we received no invitation, S and myself got possession of a 

consumptive-looking candle, and sallied out to hunt for lodgings. We 
took possession of one of the dens I have described and sent in our lug- 
gage ; and carefully locking the door afterward, (as Perote is the head- 
quarters of villany, and the court-yard was full of unshaved, ill-looking 
devils wrapped up in blankets,) we left our thin tallow as evidence of our 
tenure. 



PEROTE. 21 

On one side of the gateway is the fonda, or eating part of the establish- 
ment, where two or three women were employed cooking sundry strange 
looking messes. We signified our hunger, and wexe soon called to table. 
Several officers of the garrison, as well as the stage-load coming from 
. Mexico, were there before us. The cooking had been done with char- 
coal, over furnaces, and the color of the cooks, their clothes, the food, 
and the hearth was identical ; a warning, as in France, never to enter the 
kitchen before meals. The meats had been good, but were perfectly be- 
devilled by the culinary imps. Garlic, onions, grease, chile, and God 
knows what of other nasty compounds, had flavored the food like nothing 
else in the world but Perote cookery. We tasted, however, of every dish, 
and that taste answered to allay appetite if not to assuage hunger ; espe- 
cially as the table-cloth had served many a wayfarer since its last wash- 
ing, (if it had ever been washed,) and had, besides, doubtless been used 
for duster, (if they ever dust.) The waiter, too, was a boy, in sooty rao-s, 
who hardly knew the meaning of a plate, and had never heard of other 
forks but his fingers. 

Disgusted, as you may well suppose we were with this supper, I did 
not remain long at table. We were a set of baulked, hungry men, and 
withal, tired and peevish. I put my face for a moment outside of the gate, 

to take a walk, as the night was beautiful ; but S pulled me back 

again, with a hmt at the notorious reputation of Perote. It was not 
eight o'clock, but the town was already still as death. Its population had 
slunk home to their cheerless dwellings, and the streets were as deserted 
as those of Pompeii, save where a ragged rascal now and then skulked 
along in the shadow of the houses, buried up in his broad- brimmed som- 
brero and dirty blanket. 

We therefore at once retired to our cells ; I threw myself on the bed 
wrapped in my cloak, in dread of a vigorous attack from the fleas, and 
slept without^ moving until the driver called us at midnight to start for 
Puebla. Being already dressed, I required no time for my toilet, and I 
doubt much if hair-brushes, orris tooth-powder, or the sweet savors of the 
Rue Vivienne, were ever thought of by a parting guest at Perote ! 

In half an hour we were once more in the coach galloping out of the 
town, followed by three dragoons furnished by the officer we had met at 
supper, who seemed to entertain as poor an opinion as we did of this 
citadel of vagabondism. 

Although the sky had been clear and the stars were shining brightly 
when we retired to bed, a mist was now hanging in low clouds over the 
plain. The road was, however, smooth and level, and we scampered 
along nimbly, fear adding stings to our coachman's lash, inasmuch as he 
was the driver of a diligence that had been robbed last spring, and had 
received a ball between his shoulders, from the effects of which he had 
just sufficiently recovered to drive on his first trip since the conflict. 
We galloped during the whole night, stopping only for a moment to change 
horses ; nor did we meet a living thing except a pack of jackals, that 



22 MEXICO. 

came bounding beside the coach along the level and almost trackless 
plain. I never saw half so frightened a man as our coachman, especially 
when we passed the spot where he had been wounded. Every shrub was 
a robber — and a maguey of decent size was a whole troop ! 

The early morning, from the rain which had fallen during the night 
on this portion of the plain, Avas as cold and raw as November at home ; 
nor was it until an hour after sunrise that the mists peeled off from the 
lowlands, and, folding themselves around the distant hills, revealed a 
prospect as bare and dreary as the Campagna of Rome. 



LETTER V 



CITY OF PITEBLA. 



I SHALL say nothing more of our journey from Perote to Puebla, or of 
the several uninteresting villages through which we passed. The road 
led among deep gullies, and was exceedingly dusty on the plains. The 
towns were usually built of the common adobes, or sun-dried bricks of 
the country, and neither in their architectural appearance, nor in the 
character of their inhabitants, offered any attractions for the attention of 
a traveller. It was, indeed, a tedious and uninteresting drive over the 
solitary moors, and I have seldom been more gratified at the termination of 
a day's fatigue than I was when we entered the gateway of our spacious 
and comfortable inn at Puebla. In addition to the usual discomforts of 
the road, we had suffered greatly from the heat during the two or three 
last hours of our ride, and were annoyed by a fine dust, which, heated 
by a. blazing sun, rolled into our coach from every side, and fell like 
a parching powder on our skins. A bath was, therefore, indispensable 
before the dinner, which we found excellent after our fare of the 
previous night at Perote. In the afternoon I paid a visit to the governor, 
who promised an escort of dragoons for the rest of the journey to the 
Capital ; and I then sallied forth, to see as much as possible of this really 
beautiful city. 

My recollections of Puebla (comparing it now with Mexico) are 
far more agreeable than those of the Capital. There is an air of neat- 
ness and tidiness observable everywhere. The streets are broad, well 
paved with flat stones, and have a washed and cleanly look. The 
crowd of people is far less than in the Capital, and they are not so ragged 
and miserable. House rents are one-half or one-third those of Mexico, 
and the dwellings are usually inhabited by one family ; but, churches 
and convents seem rather more plentiful in proportion to the inhabitants. 
The friars are less numerous, and the secular clergy greater. 

A small stream skirts the eastern side of Puebla, affording a large 
water-power for manufacturing purposes. On its banks a public walk 
has been planted with rows of trees, among which the paths meander, 
while a neat fountain throws up its waters in the midst of them. The 
views from this retreat, in the evening, are charmingly picturesque over 
the eastern plain. 

On the western side of Puebla lie the extensive piles of buildings 
belonging to the Convent of St. Francis, situated opposite the entrance of 



24 MEXICO. 

the Alameda — a quiet and retired garden walk to which the cavaliers and 
donzellas repair before sunset, for a drive in view of the volcanos of Ista- 
zihuatl and Popocatepetl, which bound the westward prospect with their 
tops of eternal snow. Near the centre of the city is the great square. 
It is surrounded on two sides by edifices erected on arches through which 
the population circulates as at Bologna. On the northern side is the 
Palace of the Governor, now filled with troops j and directly in front of this 
is the Cathedral, equal perhaps in size to that of Mexico, but, being eleva- 
ted upon a platform about ten feet above the level of the square, it is better 
relieved and stands out from the surrounding buildings with more bold- 
ness and grandeur. 

This church is, in all its details and arrangements the most magnifi- 
cent in the Republic ; and although not desirous to occupy your time with 
a description of religious edifices, yet, with a view of afFoi'ding some idea 
of the wealth of this important establishment in a country where the priest- 
hood is still very powerful, I will venture to remark on a few of those ob- 
jects that strike the eye of a transient traveller. 

It is about this Cathedral, I am told, that there is a legend of Puebla, 
which states that while in process of building, it gained mysteriously in 
height during the night as much as the masons had wrought during the 
day. This loas said to he the work of Angels, and hence, the city has ac- 
quired the holy name of "Puebla de los Angeles." Be this, however, as 
it may, the church, though neither exactly worthy of divine conception 
and execution, nor a miracle of art, is extremely tasteful, and one of the 
best specimens of architecture I saw in Mexico. The material is blue 
basalt ; the stones are squared by the chisel ; the joints neatly pointed ; 
and the whole has the appearance of great solidity, being supported by 
massive buttresses, and terminated at the west by lofty towers filled with 
bells of sweet and varied tones. Between the towers is the main entrance, 
over which there is a mass of sculpture of Scripture history in stone and 
moulded work. 

Entering by this portal, the edifice, though lofty and extensive, has its 
efFect greatly marred by the erections over the crypt, altar and choir, 
which fill the building to near its arched and elevated ceiling. As usual, 
the church is divided into three parts by rows of massive columns. Out- 
side of these, under lower arches, are the side aisles, and in the wall the 
lesser chapels are imbedded, as it were, between columns, and screened 
from the main edifice by a graceful railing and fanciful gates of wrought 
iron. A similar rail also incloses the choir and other portions of the build- 
ing ; and the whole, painted green, is picked out with gilded ornaments. 

From the centre of the vast dome depends the great chandelier — a 
weighty mass of gold and silver. It weighs tons. The sum at which it is 
valued I will not mention ; but you may judge of its extent and price 
from the fact that, when cleaned thoroughly some years ago, the cost of 
its purification alone amounted io four thousand dollars ! 

The great altar, too, is a striking object. It was erected about thirty 
years ago by one of the bishops of Puebla, and affords the greatest display 



THE CATHEDRAL. 25 

of Mexican marbles in the Republic. The variety of colors is very great, 
among which is one of a pure and brilliant white, as transparent as ala' 
baster. The rail and steps, which, of course, are of fine marble, lead to 
a circular platform eight or ten feet above the floor, beneath which is the 
sepulchre of the bishops, (constructed entirely of the most precious mate- 
rials,) divided into niches and panels, and covered with a depressed dome 
of marble, relieved by bronze and gold circles, from the centre of which 
depends a silver lamp, for ever burning in the habitation of the dead. 

To the right of the altar is the gem of the building. It is a fio-ure of 
the Virgin Mary, nigh the size of life. Dressed in the richest embroi- 
dered satin, she displays strings of the largest pearls hanging from her 
neck below her knees. Around her brow is clasped a crown of gold, 
inlaid with emeralds of a size I had never seen before ; and her waist is 
bound with a zone of diamonds, from the centre of which blaze num- 
bers of enormous brilliants ! 

But this is not all. The candelabras surrounding the platform before 
the altar, are of silver and gold, and so ponderous that a strong man could 
neither move nor lifl them. Immediately above the altar, and within the 
columns of the large temple erected there, is a smaller one, the interior 
of which is displayed or concealed by secret machinery. From this the 
Host, amid a blaze of priceless and innumerable jewels, is exhibited to 
the kneeling multitude. 

^ The principal dome is, of course, in the centre of the church ; and oppo- 
site the front of the altar is the choir, remarkable, principally, for the 
workmanship and preservation of the richly carved woodwork of its 
stalls for the canons and clergy. Above the seat of the bishop is a pic- 
ture of St. Peter, formed by the inlaying of different woods ; yet so skil- 
fully is this work of art executed, that at a. short distance it has all the 
effect and gracefulness of a painting in oil. It is to be regretted that the 
organ is rather too small for so large a building, and that the rich tone 
of the noble instrument is therefore greatly lost in the services of a church 
where the effect of the Catholic rite, amid so many other magnificent 
adjuncts, would be greatly enhanced in pomp by the perfection of solemn 
music. 

It was too obscure to see the pictures which are said to be worthy of 
notice, or the three sets of valuable jewels of the bishop; and we there- 
fore departed at dusk from this mine of wealth and splendor. 

As I went out of the door in the dim twilight, and found a miserable 
and ragged woman kneeling before the image of a saint, and heard the 
hollow sounding of her breast as she beat it with penitential fervor; I could 
not help askmg myself, if the church that subsisted upon alms, in order to 
be the greatest almoner of the nation, had fulfilled its sacred charge while 
there was one diamond in the zone of the Virgin, or one homeless or 
foodless wretch in the whole Republic. 



LETTER VI. 



THE PYRAMID OF CHOLTTLA. 



Three leagues westwardly from the city of Puebia lie the remains of 
the ancient Indian Pyramid of Cholula, and you reach them by a pleas- 
ant morning ride over the plain. 

This is one of the most remarkable relics of the Aborigines on the Con- 
tinent ; for, although it was constructed only of the adobes, or common 
sun-dried bricks, it still remains in sufficient distinctness to strike every 
observer with wonder at the enterprise of its Indian builders. What it 
was intended for, whether tomb or temple, no one has determined with 
certainty, though the wisest antiquarians nave been guessing since the 
conquest. In the midst of a plain the Indians erected a mountain. The 
base still remains to give us its dimensions ; but what was its original 
height 1 Was it the tomb of some mighty lord, or sovereign prince ; or 
was it alone a place of sacrifice ? 

Many years ago, in cutting a new road toward Puebia from Mexico, it 
became necessary to cross a portion of the base of this pyramid. The 
excavation laid bare a square chamber, built of stone, the roof of which 
was sustained by cypress beams. In it were found some idols of basalt, 
a number of painted vases, and the remains of two bodies. No care was 
taken of these relics by the discoverers, and they are lost to us for ever. 

Approaching the pyramid from the east, it appears so broken and 
overgrown with trees that it is difficult to make out any outline distinctly. 
The view from the west, however, which I have given on the opposite 
page, will convey to you some idea of this massive monument as it rises 
in solitary grandeur from the midst of the wide-spreading plain. A well- 
paved road, cut by the old Spaniards, ascends from the northwest corner, 
with steps at regular intervals, obliquing first on the west side to the upper 
bench of the terrace, and thence returning toward the same side until it 
is met by a steep flight rising to the front of the small, dome-crowned 
chapel, surrounded with its grove of cypress, and dedicated to the Virgin 
of Remedios. 

The summit is perfectly level and protected by a parapet wall, whence 
a magnificent view extends on every side over the level valley. What- 
ever this edifice may have been, the idea of thus attaining permanently 
an elevation to which the people might resort for prayer — or even for 
parade or amusement — was a sublime conception, and entitles the men 
who centuries ago patiently erected the lofty pyramid, to the respect of 




m 



PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 27 

posterity. If his ancestor celebrated, here, a bloody sacrifice of victims 
taken in battle, the modern Indian may purify the hill from the crime by 
the celebration of a peaceful mass, and the sermon of a worthy padre! 

There remain at present but four stories of the Pyramid of Cholula., 
risincr above each other and connected by terraces. These stories are 
formed, as I before said, of sun-dried bricks, interspersed with occasional 
layers of plaster and stone work. And this is all that is to be told or 
described. Old as it is — interestincr as it is — examined as it has been by ^ 

antiquaries of all countries — the result has ever been the same. The y-V 

Indians tell you that it was a place of sepulture, and the Mexicans give ^^y^ 
vou the universal reply of ignorance in this country: " Qulen SaheV — 'J'' HAf- 
who knows — who can tell ! 

For those who are interested particularly in Mexican antiquities since 
the recent publications of Mr. Stephens, and the beautiful drawings of 
Mr. Catherwood, have greatly familiarized almost all classes with the 
monuments of ancient American grandeur, I will translate some of the 
descriptive remarks of the Baron Humboldt, who visited these ruins near 
the beginning of our century. 

" The Pyi'amid of Cholula," says he, " is exactly of the same height 
as that of Tonatiuh Ytxaqual, at Teotihuacan," (which I shall describe 
hereafter.) " It is 3 metres higher than that of Mycerinus, or the third 
of the great Egyptian pyramids of the group of Djizeh. Its base, how- 
ever, is larger than that of any pyramid hitherto discovered by travellers 
in the old world, and is double of that known as the Pyramid of Cheops. 

" Those who wish to form an idea of the immense mass of this Mexican 
monument by the comparison of objects best known to them, may imagine 
a square, ybwr times greater than that of the Place Vendome in Paris, cov- 
ered with layers of bricks rising to twice the elevation of the Louvre ! Some 
persons imagine that the whole of the edifice is not artificial ; but as far 
as explorations have been made, there is no reason to doubt that it is en- 
tirely a work of art. In its present state (and we are ignoi'ant of its per- 
feet original height,) its perpendicular proportion is to its base as S to 1, 
while in the three great pyramids of Djizeh, the proportion is found to be 
1^ to 1^^ to 1 ; or, nearly, as 8 to 5." 

May not this have been but the base of some mighty temple destroyed 
long before the conquest, and of which even the tradition no longer lin- 
gers among the neighboring Indians ! 

In order to afford you additional means of comparison, I annex the fol- 
lowing table, also from Humboldt, of the relative proportions of several 
well known pyramids. 

The feet are jpieds du roi : 

PYRAMIDS BUILT OF STONE. PYRAMIDS OF BRICK. 





Cheops. 


Cephren. 


Mycerinus. 


Height 


448 feet. 


303 feet. 


162 feet 


Base. 


72a 


655 


580 



1 of5 stones in Egypt <— of4 stories in Mexico—- 

near Sakharah. Teotihuacan. Cholula 

150 feet. 171 feet. 172 f 

210 645 1355 



28 MEXICO. 

In continuation, Humboldt observes, that "the inhabitants of Analiuac 
apparently designed giving the Pyramid of Cholula the same height, and 
double the base of the Pyramid at Teotihuacan, and that the Pyramid of 
Asychis, the largest known of the Egyptians, has a base of 800 feet; and 
is like that of Cholula, built of brick. The cathedral of Strasburg is 8 
feet, and the cross of St. Peters, at Rome, 41 feet, lower than the top of 
the Pyramid of Cheops. Pyramids exist throughout Mexico ; In the for- 
ests of Papantla at a short distance above the level of the sea ; on the 
plains of Cholula and of Teotihuacan, at the elevations Avhich exceed 
those of the passes of the Alps. In the most widely distant nations, in 
climates the most ditferent, man seems to have adopted the same style of 
construction ; the same ornaments, the same customs ; and to have placed 
himself under the government of the same political institutions !" 

Is this an argument that all men have sprung only from one stock ? or 
that the human mind is the same everywhere, and, affected by similar 
interests or necessities invariably comes to the same result, whether in 
pomting a pyramid, or an arrow ; in making a law, or a ladle ? 

Much as I distrust all the dark and groping efforts of antiquarians, I 
will nevertheless offer you some sketches and legends, which may serve, 
at least, to base a conjecture upon as to the divinity to whom this pyra- 
mid was erected ; and to prove, perhaps, that it was intended as the 
foundation of a temple, and not the covering of a tomb. 

A tradition which has been recorded by a Dominican monk who visited 
Cholula in 1566, is thus related from his work, by the traveller to whom 
I have already referred : 

" Before the great inundation, which took place 4800 years after the 
creation of the world, the country of Auahuac was inhabited by giants, 
all of whom either perished m the inundation, or were transformed into 
fishes, save seven who fled into caverns. 

" When the waters subsided, one of the giants, called Xelhua, surnamed 
"the Architect," went to Cholula, where, as a memorial of the Tlaloc* 
which had served for an asylum to himself and his six brethren, he built 
an artificial hill in the form of a pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made 
in the province of Tlalmanalco, at the foot of the Sierra of Cocotl, and in 
order to convey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men who passed them 
from hand to hand. The gods beheld, with wrath, an edifice the top 
of which was to reach the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of 
Xelhua, they hurled fire on the pyramid ! Numbers of the workmen 
perished. The work was discontinued, and the monument was after- 
ward dedicated to Qtjetzalcoatl." 

* Tlie mountain of Tlaloc lies in a westerly direction from the Pyramid of Cholula, about thirty miles. It was 
visited last year, and ascended with much diificulty by Mr. Ward and Mr. Jamieson, who found, upon the 
very summit, the remains of extensive walls, the sides of which were due north and south. The day was ex- 
ceedingly cold, and. suffering from the keen mountain air, they were unable to extend their explorations, espe- 
cially as they were not prepared either with the necessary tooU, or to tpend some Ume on tlie summit. They 
dug, however, with the blades of their swords among the ruins, and found a number of small images and headj 
of clay, similar to those which will be hereafter described. 



CHOLULAN MYTHOLOGY. 29 

Now of this god Quetzalcoatl, we have the following story, which is 
given by Dr. M'Culloh, the most learned and laborious of writers upon 
American antiquities. 

" Quetzalcoatl, or the ' Feathered Serpent,' was among the Mexi- 
cans, and all other nations of Auahuac, ' god of the air.' He was 
said to have been once high priest of Tula. They figured him tall, huge, 
of a fair complexion, broad forehead, large eyes, long black hair and 
flowing beard. From a love of decency he wore always a long robe, 
which was repre:sented to have been spotted all over with red crosses. 
He was so rich that he had palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones. 
He was thought to possess the greatest industry, and to have invented the 
art of melting metals, and cutting gems. He was supposed to have had 
the most profound vvdsdom, which he displayed in the laws he left to man- 
kind, and, above all, the most rigid and exemplary manners. Whenever 
he intended promulgating a law to his kingdom, he ordei'ed a crier to the 
top of the mountain Tzatzitepec, or ' Mil of shouting ;' near the city of 
Tula, from whence his voice teas heard for three hundred miles. In his 
time the corn grew so strong that a single ear was a load for a man. 
Gourds were as long as a man's body. It was unnecessary to dye 
cotton, for it grew of all colors ; all their fruits were in the same abund- 
ance, and of an extraordinary size. There was also at that period, an 
incredible number of beautiful and sweet-singing birds. In a word, the 
Mexicans imagined as much happiness under the priesthood of Quetzal- 
coatl, as the Greeks did under the reign of Saturn, whom this Mexican 
god also resembled in the exile he suffered. 

" Amid all this prosperity Tezcatlipoca, their supi'eme but visible god, 
(we know not for what reason,) wishing to drive him from Tula, appeared 
to him in the form of an aged man, and told him it was the will of the 
gods that he should be taken to the kingdom of Tlapalla. At the same 
time he offered him a beverage, which was readily accepted, in hopes of 
obtaining that immortality after which he aspired. He no sooner drank 
it than he felt himself so strongly tempted to go to Tlapalla, that he set 
out at once, accompanied by many of his faithful subjects. Near the 
city of Quauhtitlan, he i»jlled a ti'ee with stones, which remained fixed 
in the trunk ; and at Tlalnepautla he laid his hand upon a stone and left 
an impression which the Mexicans showed to the Spaniards. Upon his 
arrival at Cholula the citizens detained him, and made him take the 
government of their city. He showed much aversion to cruelty, and 
could not bear the mention of war. To him, the Cholulans say, they 
owe their knowledge of melting metals, the laws by which they were 
afterward governed, the rites and ceremonies of their religion, and, as 
some say, the arrangement of their seasons and calendar. After resi- 
ding for 20 years in Cholula, he resolved to pursue his journey to his 
imaginary kingdom of Tlapalla, carrying along M'ith him four noble and 
virtuous youths ; but, on arriving at the maritime province of Coatzaco- 

alcO; he dismissed them, and desired them to assure the Cholulans that 
~ 3 



30 MEXICO. 

he would return to comfort and direct them. Some said that he suddenly 
disappeared, others that he died on tlie sea-shore ; but however that may 
be, Quetzalcoatl teas consecrated as a god by the Toltecas of Cholula, and 
made chief guardian of their city, in the centre of which, in honor of 
him, they raised a great eminence on which they built a temple. Another 
eminence, surmounted by a temple, was afterward erected to him in 
Tula. From Cholula his worship was spread over the country, where he 
was adored as ' the god of the air.' He had temples in Mexico and 
elsewhere, and some nations, even the enemies of the Cholulans, had 
temples and priests dedicated to his worship in the city of Cholula, 
whither persons came from all parts of the land to pay their devotions 
and fulfil their vows. His festivals were great and extraordinary, espe- 
cially in Cholula. 

"In every fourth, or divine year, they were preceded by a rigid fast 
of eighty days, and by dreadful austerities practiced by the priests conse- 
crated to his worship. The Mexicans said, that Quetzalcoatl cleared the 
way for the ' god of the water,' because in these countries rain is gen- 
erally preceded by wind." 

The following singular story in relation to this divinity and certain 
services of his temple, is to be found in the Nat. and Mor. Hist, of 
Acosta, book v. chap. 30. 

" There was at this temple of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, a court of rea- 
sonable greatness, in which they made great dances and pastimes with 
games and comedies, on the festival days of this idol ; for which purpose 
there was in the midst of this court a theatre of thirty feet square, very 
finely decked and trimmed — the which they decked with flowers that 
day — with all the art and invention that might be, being environed around 
with arches of divers flowers and feathers, and in some places there 
were tied many small birds, conies, and other tame beasts. After din- 
ner all the people assembled in this place, and the players presented 
themselves and played comedies. Some counterfeited the deaf and 
rheumatic ; others the lame ; some the blind and crippled which came 
to seek for cure from the idol. The deaf answered confusedly; the 
rheumatic coughed ; the lame halted, telling their miseries and griefs, 
wherewith they made the people to laugh. Others came tbrth in the form 
of little beasts, some attired like snails, others like toads, and some like 
lizards ; then meeting together they told their offices, and every one re- 
tirino- to his place, they sounded on small flutes, which was pleasant to 
hear. They likewise counterfeited butterflies and small birds of divers 
colors, which were represented by the children who Avere sent to the tem- 
ple for education. Then they went into a little forest, planted there for 
the purpose, whence the priests of the temple drew them forth with instru- 
ments of music. In the mean time they used many pleasant 'speeches, 
some in propounding, others in defending, wherewith the assistants were 
pleasantly entertained. This done, they made a masque, or mummery 
with all these personages, and so the feast ended." 



CHOLULAN MYTHOLOGY. 



31 



From these traditions, we derive several important facts. First, that 
QtTETZALCOATL, was " god of the air :" Second, that he was represented as 
a " feathered serpent :" Third, that he was the great divinity of the Cho- 
lulans : and, Fourth, that a hill was raised by them upon which they 
erected a temple to his glory, where they celebrated his festivals with 
pomp and splendor. 

Combining all these, is it unreasonable to believe that the Pyramid of 
Cholula was the base of this temple, and that he was there worshipped as 
the Great Spirit of the air — or of the seasons ; the God who produced the 
fruitfulness of the earth, regulated the sun, the wind and the shower, and 
thus spread plenty over the land ? I have thought, too, that the serpent 
might not improbably typify lightning, and the feathers, swiftness ; thus 
denoting one of the attributes of *^e air — and that the most speedy and 
destructive. 

In a worship of propitiation, it would be most proper and reasonable 
that that destructive element should be personified and supplicated. 

In the city of Mexico I constantly saw serpents, carved in stone, in the 
various collections of antiquities. One was presented to me by the 
Conde del PeBiasco, and the drawings below represent the figures of two 
"feathered serpents," which, after considerable labor I disinterred (I may 
say,) from a heap of dirt and rubbish, old boxes, chicken- coops and de- 
caved fruit, in the court-yard of the University. 




32 



]\I E X I C , 



These masses of stone are 
not only interesting on ac- 
count of their connection with 
the Mexican Mythology, but 
they are beautiful specimens 
of Azteck art. The carv- 
ing with which they are cov- 
ered is executed with a neat- 
ness and gracefulness that 
would make them, as mere 
ornaments, worthy of the 
chisel of an ancient sculptor. 



The present town of Cho- 
lula is scarcely more than a 
village, and seems gradually 
still more decaying. At the 
conquest it was a city of much 
splendor, as we gather from 
the accounts of Cortez, who, 
in his letters to the Emperor 
speaks of it thus : 

" This-city of Churultecal* 
is situated on a plain, and contains twenty thousand houses within the body 
of the town, and as many in the suburl. Its people are well dressed, and 
its neighboring field.vare exceedingly fertile ; and I certify to your ma- 
jesty, that, from one of the temples I have counted more than four hundred 
towers, and they are all the toioers of temples /" 

Such was Cholula when it fell under the Spanish sway, and there seems 
to be no reason to doubt, that, " sacred city" as it was held to be by the 
Indians of the period, the account of Cortez was indeed correct. But the 
temple is year after year crumbling, more and more, to decay ; its outlines 
are becoming more and more indistinct ; and of the race that worshipped on 
that pyramid, there now remains nothing but a few servile Indians who till 
the adjacent fields, and the women who throng the market-place with their 
fruits and flowers. I wanted some relics of the spot, and commissioning 
a proud-looking fellow, who may have been, for aught I know, a great 
great-great-great-grandson of some of the lords of Cholula, to hunt uf 
a few antiquities ; he brought me, after an hour's search among the ruins 
a quantity of pottery, heads of animals, fragments of vases, and a smal 
idol sculptured in white marble. These are my souvenirs of Cholula. 




* The ancient name of Cholula. 



LETTER VII. 



LAST DAY'S RIDE TO MEXICO. 



Soon after our departure from Puebla,* we crossed a small stream 
spanned by a fine bridge, and commenced ascending by a very gradually 
inclined plain toward the Sierra Nevada. The mountains on our left are 
a stupendous range, standing out sharply against the bright blue sky, in 
the clear early light and pure atmosphere, their lower portions covered 
with dark pine forests, from which the conic peak of Popocatepetl, with 
its eternal snow, emerges majestically ; while, further north, towers its 
gigantic rival, Iztaccihijatl. Between us and the mountains is the 
Pyeamid of Cholitla. As we approach this elevated region, the countiy 
becomes well watered, and the plain is just sufficiently inclined for irri- 
gation ; the soil rich, the estates extensive, and cultivated with the greatest 
care. Immense herds of cattle are spread over the fields, and the land, 
now preparing for the winter crops, is divided into extensive tracts of a 
thousand acres, along which the furrows are drawn with mathematical 
accuracy. Among these noble farms a multitude of habitations are 
scattered, which, inclosing the numerous population necessary for labor, 
with the requisite chapels, churches, and surrounding offices, gleam out 
brightly with their white walls from among the dark foliage of the groves, 
and impress one as favorably as the multitude of tasteful villages that dot 
the windings of our beautiful Connecticut. 

We breakfasted hastily at San Martin, and for the next league our 
ascent was almost imperceptible. At length we crossed several fine 
streams, and the road, rising rapidly, struck more into the mountain. 
There was no longer any sign of cultivation, even in the dells, but the 

* It is nut over two or three hundred yards ftom the gates of Puebla, where most of the robberies of which I 
aftenvard heard during my residence in 3Iesico, occurred. A band of some fire, ten, ox a dozen men, armed, 
witli their faces covered with crape, usually stood waiting in the early dawn, for the dOigence. If there were 
armed foreigners in the coach, they would look in, consult a moment, and then ride oif. If the passengers 
were unarmed, and the boot of the vehicle looked heavy and temptmg, the result was the perfect sacking of the 
whole company. Their persons were first robbed and partially stripped as they descended from the door ; they 
were then made to lie down with their mouths on the ground— and their trunks were rifled. One lady (the 
present prima donna of the opera in Mexico) lost S6000 in doubloons and jewels, at this very spot— notwith- 
standing a guard had been promised by the authorities, and paid for. The instances, however, were innu- 
merable and unpardonable, while regiments of cavalry dozed, within a quarter of a mile, in a city almost 
under Martial Law. 

While I resided in the Capital, during Santa Anna's vigorous administration, he had some 65 or 70 garrotted. 
Two or three every week. This for a time struck terror to the band ; but 1 learn that lately they have again 
.aken to the road with renewed vigor. 



34 MEXICO. 

dense forest spread, out on every side its sea of foliage. The road was 
as smooth as a bowling-green, and we swung along over the levels, up 
hill and down, until we passed the Puente de Tesmeluca, over a stream 
dashino- from a mountain ravine like a shower of silver from among the 
verdure. After again ascending another mountain, and following its de- 
scent on the other side, we reached the village of Rio Frio, a collection 
of the miserable huts of coal-burners, and the nest and nursery of as 
fierce a brood of robbers as haunt the forests. In proof of this, and, 
moreover, that the Cross, in this land, is no " sign of redemption,'' the 
sacred emblem was again spread out on every side, as yesterday in the 
Barranca Secca, marking the grave of some murdered traveller. We 
were once more in the fields of romance and robbery; yet, well guarded 
to-day by a vigilant troop, and in good spirits at the near termination of 
our trials, we again launched forth for our final ride. Leaving this 
narrow and desolate ravine among the hills, the road once more ascends 
by a series of short windings through the pine woods, among which the 
wind whistled cold and shrill as over our winter plains ; and, thus grad- 
ually scaling the last mountain on our route, while the increased guard 
scoured the recesses of the forest, we reached the lofty summit in about 
an hour, and rolled for some distance along a level table land, catching 
glimpses, occasionally, of a distant horizon to the west, apparently as 
illimitable as the sea. The edge of the mountain was soon turned, and 
as the coach dipped forward on the descent of the western slope, a sudden 
clearing in the forest disclosed the magnificent Valley, of Mexico. 

The sight of land to the sea-worn sailor — the sight of home to the wan- 
derer, who has not beheld for years the scene of his boyhood — are not 
hailed with more thrilling delight than was the exclamation from one of 
our passengers as he announced this prospect. 

I am really afraid to describe this valley to you, as I dislike to deal 
in hyperboles. I have seen the Simplon — the Spleugen — the view from 
Rhigi — the " wide and winding Rhine " — and the prospect from Vesuvius 
over the lovely bay of Naples, its indolent waves sleeping in the warm 
sunshine on their purple bed — but none of these scenes compare with the 
Valley of Mexico. They want some one of the elements of grandeur, 
all of M^hich are gathered here. Although the highest triumphs of human 
genius and art may disappoint you, Nature never does. The conceptions 
of Him who laid the foundations of the mountains, and poured the waters 
of the seas from his open palm, can never be reached by the fancies of 
men. And if, after all the exaggerated descriptions of St. Peter's and 
the Pyramids, we feel sick with disappointment when we stand before 
them, it is never so with the sublime creations of the Almighty. 

You would, therefore, no doubt, most readily spare my attempting 
to give by the pen a description of what even the more graphic pencil has 
ever failed faithfully to convey. But I feel in some measure bound to 
make for you a catalogue of this valley's features, though I am confident 
I must fail to describe or paint them. 



VALLEY OF MEXICO. 35 

Conceive yourself placed on a mountain nearly two thousand feet above 
the valley,andnine thousand above the level of the sea. A sky above you 
of the most perfect azure, without a cloud, and an atmosphere so trans- 
parently pure, that the remotest objects at the distance of many leagues 
are as distinctly visible as if at hand. The gigantic scale of everything 
first strikes you — you seem to be looking down upon a world. No other 
mountain and valley view has such an assemblage of features, because 
nowhere else are the mountains at the same time so high, the valley so 
wide, or filled with such variety of land and water. The plain beneath 
is exceedingly level, and for two hundred miles around it extends a 
barrier of stupendous mountains, most of which have been active volcanos, 
and are now covered, some with snow, and some with forests. It is laced 
with large bodies of water looking more like seas than lakes — it is dotted 
with innumerable villages, and estates and plantations ; eminences rise 
from it which, elsewhere, would be called mountains, yet there, at your 
feet, they seem but ant-hills on the plain ; and now, letting your eye fol- 
low the rise of the mountains to the west, (near fifty miles distant,) you 
look over the immediate summits that wall the valley, to another and 
more distant range — and to range beyond range, with valleys between 
each, until the whole melts into a vapory distance, blue as the cloudless 
sky above you. 

I could have gazed for hours at this little world while the sun and 
passing vapor chequered the fields, and sailing off" again, left the whole 
one bright mass of verdure and water — bringing out clearly the domes of 
the village churches studding the plain or leaning against the first slopes 
of the mountains, with the huge lakes looming larger in the rarified at- 
mosphere. Yet one thing was wanting. Over the immense expanse 
there seemed scarce an evidence of life. There were no figures in the 
picture. It lay torpid in tlie sunlight, like some deserted region where 
Nature was again beginning to assert her empire — vast, solitary and 
melancholy. There were no sails — no steamers on the lakes, no smoke 
over the villages, no people at labor in the fields, no horsemen, coaches, 
or travellers but ourselves. The silence was almost supernatural ; one 
expects to hear the echo of the national strife that filled these plains with 
discord, yet lingering among the hills. It was a picture of " still life " 
inanimate in every feature, save where, on the distant mountain sides, the 
fire of some poor coal-burner, mingled its blue wreath with the bluer sky, 
or the tinkle of the bell of a solitary muleteer was heard from among the 
dark and solemn pines. 

What a theatre for the great drama that has been performed within the 
limits of this valley ! When Cortez first stood upon these mountains, 
and looked down on the lovely scene, peaceful then and rich under the 
cultivation of its Indian children ; the hills and plains covered with for- 
ests, and much of what is now dry land hidden by the extensive lake, in 
the midst of which rose the proud city of the Aztec kings filled with pal- 
aces and temples ; in site, another Venice on its inland sea \ in art, the 



36 MEXICO. 

Indian Attica — when he beheld, 1 say, this tranquil scene at his feet, wha'i 
must have been the avarice and the relentlessness of an unknightly heart 
that urged him onward to the destruction and enslavement of a civilized 
and unoffending people, whose only crime was, the possession of a coun- 
try rich enough to be plundered to minister to the luxury of a bigoted 
race beyond the sea ! 

******* 

Our descent commenced from the eminence where we had halted 
awhile to survey the valley. Our coachman was an honest Yankee, 
fearless as the wild horses he drove, and they scoured along under his 
lash as if we had the level roads of New England beneath us. But, alas ! 
we had not. I question whether there are any such roads elsewhere — in 
the world — nor can you conceive them, because your experience among 
the wilds of the Aroostook or the marshes of the Mississippi, can furnish 
no symptoms of such highways. They were gullies, washed into the 
mountain side by the rains; filled, here and there, with stones and 
branches ; dammed up, to turn the water, by mounds a couple of fee*, 
high — and thus, gradually serpentining to the foot of the declivity. Yol, 
may readily imagine that there was no such thing as rolling down with 
our rapid motion over such a ravine. We literallj jumped from dam to 
dam, and rock to rock, and in many places where the steep is certainly 
at an angle of 45°, I must confess that I quailed at the impending dange? 
while the horses bounded along as fiercely as if they bore Mazeppa. But 
the driver knew what he was about, and in an hour drew up at the Venta 
de Cordova, where, when I alighted, I found myself deaf and giddy from 
the heat, dust, and irregular motion. In a few moments, however, the 
blood poured from my head and I was relieved, though I felt ill and un- 
comfortable the rest of the day. Two of the other passengers suffered in 
the same manner.* 

The succeeding distance of about thirty miles lies along the level, and 
skirts a detached range of volcanic hills between the lakes of Tezcoco 
and Chalco, the same which I described, some time ago, as rising like 
ant-heaps from the plain. We passed the village of Ayotla, and through 
a number of collections of mud-walled huts and desolate hovels, buried 
up among palm-trees and fields of barley and maguey, (resembling the 
streets of ruined tombs near Rome ;) but nowhere did I see any evidence 
of neat or careful cultivation, or of comfort and thriftiness. In this the 
valley of Mexico is, markedly, different from that of Puebla. Misery 
and neglect reigned absolute. Squalid Indians in rags exhibiting almost 
entirely their dirty bodies, thronged the road ; miserable devils corning 

* Almost all travellers suffer from giddiness and flow of blood to the head on their arrival on the Vallej of 
Mexico. This arisee from the great rarefaction of the atmosphere, 7500 feet above the level of the se&. 



APPROACHING THE CAPITAL. 37 

from market ; children, half-starved and naked, and women, whose wiry 
and uncombed hair gave them the mien of porcupines. 

At length, as we gained the top of a little eminence our driver pointed 
out the "City of Mexico :" — a long line of turrets, and domes, and spires, 
lying in the lap of beautiful meadows, and screened, partially, by inter- 
vening trees, planted along the numerous avenues leading to the Capital. 
About two leagues from the city we came to the ancient border of the 
lake of Tezcoco, now a marshy flat from which the waters have receded. 
Here we mounted the Calzada, or causeway, raised about six feet above 
the surrounding waters. 

This road is not one of the ancient avenues by which the city was ap- 
proached, across the lake, during the reign of the Indians, but was con- 
structed at great expense by the old Spanish Government. Although the 
land to the north of it is covered with saline particles that are perfectly 
visible as you ride along, yet the southern flats, being watered by the 
fresher stream from Chalco which flows through several apertures of the 
dike, are in no manner discolored. The northern marsh was covered 
with myriads of ducks, and looked as if it had been literally peppered 
with wild fowl. These birds are murdered in immense quantities with a 
sort of infernal machine, formed by the union of a great number of aun- 
barrels, and they furnish the chief food of the poor of Mexico. 

Thus, about four o'clock, we passed this unprepossessing approach to 
the Capital, driving by the body of a man who had just been murdered, 
lying on the road side, with the blood flowing from his recent wound. 
Hundreds passed, but no one noticed him. At the gates we were detained 
only a moment for examination, and we entered the city by the Puerta de 
San Lazaro. A saint who suffered from impure blood, and presides over 
sores, may well be the patron of .that portal and portion of the suburbs 
through which we jolted over disjoined pavements, while the water lay 
green and putrid in the stagnant gutter, festering in the middle of close 
streets, swarmed with ragged thousands. As I looked at them from our 
window, they seemed more like a population of witches, freshly dismounted 
from their broomsticks, than anything else to which, in fancy, I can readily 
compare them. 

But the journey ended as we drove to the hotel Vergara, where a dirty 
court-yard, filled with sheep, chickens, horses, bath-houses, and a black- 
smith's shop, received our jaded crew. I found that a kind friend had 
already prepared rooms for me, where, after a bath and dinner, 1 was 
made as comfortable as possible, by the attentions of a hospitable land- 
lady. 



LETTER VIII. 



THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



You left me retiring to rest at my hotel in Mexico, and- soundly did I 
repose after my last fatiguing ride from the mountains and over the plain 
to the city. I was roused, however, betimes by the clang of the church 
bells for early mass. This sound I had not heard since my visit to 
Italy many years ago, and it brought back to me many pleasant memo- 
ries, as I lay half awake and half dreaming, during the early hours. 
When I arose other recollections of Italy were excited. The wmdows, 
descending to the ground, of the brick-paved room, thrown open, let in an 
air worthy of Naples the beautiful ! It was the middle of November, 
but there was a May-mildness in the atmosphere. The sky was of that 
deep ultra-marine blue peculiar to elevated regions. As I ranged my 
eye down the street from my balcony, the town was alive with a teeming 
population ; the windows of the houses stood open ; fair women strolled 
homeward from mass ; old monks shuffled along in their cowled robes ; 
the butcher urged along his ass with its peripatetic stall hung around 
with various meats ; freshly-leaved flowers and trees stood in the court- 
yards, of which I caught glimpses through the opened portals ; and in the 
balconies lounged the early risers, enjoying a cigar after their cup of 
chocolate. It was a lively and beautiful scene, worthy of the pencil of 
that master painter of cities — Cannaletli, who would have delighted in 
the remarkable transparency and purity of the atmosphere through which 
the distant hills, som.e twenty miles ofi", seemed but a barrier at the end 
of the street ! 

The plan of the city of Mexico is precisely that of a checquer-board 
with a greater number of squares. Straight streets cross each other at 
right-angles and at regular intervals. The houses are painted with gay 
colors — light blue, fawn, and green, interspersed with a pure white, that 
remains long unstained in the dry atmosphere. 

The view of all these from the elevated tower of the cathedral, (to 
which I soon repaired after my arrival in the capital,) presents a mass of 
domes, steeples, and flat-roofed dwellings, frequently covered, like hang 
ing gardens, with flowers and foliage. Beyond the gates, (which you 
would scarcely think bounded a population of 200,000,) the vast plain 
stretches out on every side to the mountains, traversed in some places by 



PLAZA AND PARIAN. 



39 



long lines of aqueducts sweeping to the city from the hills, and in others, 
studded with lakes, cultivation, and beautiful groves, until the distant 
view is closed by the volcanoes, whose snows rest against the blue sky, 
uncovered, at this season, by a single cloud. 

Below is the great square or Plaza ; a large paved area, fronted on the 
north, by the Cathedral ; on the east, by the National Palace, (the resi- 
dence of the President ;) to the south of which, again, are the museum, 
and a stone edifice recently built in tasteful style, for a market. The 
corner-stone* of this was laid after I arrived in Mexico, and before I 
left, the building was nearly completed. Until that time the fruits, flow- 
ers, vegetables, and most of the necessaries of the table, had been sold 
on that spot, in shambles and booths built of lamboos and reeds, sheltered 
from the rain and sun hy thatched roofs ! 

In the southwestern corner of the square is the Parian, an unsightly 
building (erected, I believe, since the revolution,) which greatly mars the 
effect of the Plaza. It is a useful establishment, however, as it affords 
a large revenue to the municipality, and is the great bazaar where every 
article requisite for the dress of Mexicans, male or female, may be pur- 
chased at reasonable prices. On the pavement which runs round it, sit 
numbers of coachmen whose stand is in the neighborhood, and crowds 
of women with ready-made shoes. Not the least curious, however, among 
the multitude, with which this side-walk is generally thronged, are about 
a dozen " evangelistas,'" or " letter-writers," whose post is always on the 
curb-stones of the eastern front of the Parian. A huge jug of ink is 
placed beside them; a board rests across their knees; a pile of different 
colored paper (most of which is either cut, valentine fashion, or flourished 
over and adorned with pen-and-ink ornaments,) is placed on it, and, on a 
stool before them, sits some disconsolate looking damsel or heart-broken 

* A medal was struck iq commemoration of this event, the legend on which I give for the sake of those who 
are curious in inscriptions of " modern" latin. The medal is perfectly plain, and of silver. 



PEECEARViS 

MILITIE 

EEIPVBLICE 

QVEDTJX 

ANTOKIOPEZ 

MDCCCXLI. 




40 MEXICO 

lover, pouring out a passion which the scribe puts into becoming phrase- 
ology. It is an important trade ; and more money is earned in Mexico 
by this proxy-malfing love^ than perhaps anywhere else. You can have 
a "declaration^' for one rial; a scolding letter for a medio; and an up- 
braiding epistle, full of daggers, jealousy, love, and tenderness, (leaving 
the unfortunate recipient in a very distracted state of mind,) done upon 
azure paper be-sprinkled with hearts and doves, for the ridiculous price ■ 
of twenty-five cents ! 

West of the Parian, and all around the southern and western sides of 
the Plaza, or those portions of it which are not directly occupied by the 
Cathedral and National Palace, run the arched Portales, similar to the 
arcades of Bologna. These are filled with gay shops, peddlers, caffes, 
old clothes, toys, flower-venders, sweetmeats, bookstalls, cutlers, curiosity- 
hunters, antiquities, (veritable and doubtful,) and the usual crowd of 
loungers and quidnuncs. Here the last revolution, or the probability of 
a new one, is in continual discussion, by knots of idlers. Above stairs, 
in some of the dwellings, are gambling-houses, as formerly in the Palais 
Royal, with which the scene here presented does not, of course, vie in 
taste or splendor. 

Opposite to the southern end of the Parian is the Casa Municipal, or 
town-hall, in the lower story of which is the Lonja, (the Exchange of 
the merchants of Mexico,) a noble room, filled with all the gazettes of 
the Republic, of Europe, and the United States, and adjoined by an apart- 
ment in which readers may occasionally amuse themselves with a game 
of billiards. 



Descending from the tower of the Cathedral, let us enter the doors of 
the sacred edifice. 

Its floor is of loose disjointed boards, filled with dirt and filth — the cov- 
ering of the many dead who lie mouldering beneath. But with this, all 
meanness ends ; and whether we contemplate the dimensions of the edifice, 
or the millions that have been spent upon its decoration, the mind is lost 
in wonder. It is impossible for me to describe the whole of this building 
to you — a book would not suffice for the immense and minute detail with 
which its walls and altars are embellished. 

In order to afford you some idea of the wealth of the church, generally — 
and passing over plate glass and crystal, silver frames, lamps, carving 
and gilding enough to make an ordinary metropolitan church blaze with 
splendor — I will only mention one object in the body of the building : 
the altar and its accessories. 

The Cathedral occupies a space of 500 feet by 420 front. The main 
altar is not erected against the wall, but near the centre of the edifice, 
beneath the dome. From this, extending around the choir probably two 



THELEPEROS. 41 

hundred feet, there is a rail between four and five feet high, and of propor- 
tionable thickness, composed of gold, silver, and a small alloy of Irasn. 
This is surmounted with silver statues for candles. In front of the altar is 
the choir, itself a church, built of dark woods of the rarest antique carving. 
The altar (placed upon a marble platform, elevating it from the floor of 
the building, and covered with gold and silver ornaments, candlesticks 
and crosses,) is of wrought and polished silver; and the whole is sur- 
mounted by a small temple, in which rests the figure of the Virgin of 
Remedies, who enjoys the exclusive right to three petticoats ; one emhroi- 
dered witli f earls, another with emeralds, and a third with diamonds, the value 
of which, I am credilly informed, is not less than three millions of dollars ! 
This, you will recollect, is onXj one part of one church in Mexico, and that 
one said not to be the richest ! 

Around this splendid mine of wealth are half-naked Indians, gaping 
with surprise, or kneeling to the figure of some favorite saint — the misery 
of the man a painful contrast with the splendor of the shrine ! 



Passing from the Cathedral door to the south-eastern portion of the city, 
you reach the outskirts, crossing, in your way, the canals from the lake. 
I have rarely seen such miserable suburbs ; they are filled with hovels 
built of sun-dried bricks, often worn with the weather to the shape of holes 
in the mud, while on their earthen floors crawl, cook, live and multiply, 
the wretched-looking population of Uperos. 

This word, I believe, is not pure Spanish, but is derived originally, it is 
said, from the Castilian lepra, or leper ; and although they do not suffer 
from that loathsome malady, they are quite as disgusting. 

Blacken a man in the sun ; let his hair grow long and tangled, or be- 
come filled with vermin ; let him plod about the streets in all kinds of 
dirt for years, and never know the use of brush, or towel, or water even, 
except in storms ; let him put on a pair of leather breeches at twenty, and 
wear them until forty, without change or ablution ; and, over all, place a 
torn and blackened hat, and a tattered blanket begrimed with abomi- 
nations ; let him have wild eyes, and shining teeth, and features pinched 
by famine into sharpness ; breasts bared and browned, and (if females) 
with two or three miniatures of the same species trotting after her, and 
another certainly strapped to her back : combine all these in your ima- 
gination, and you have a recipe for a Mexican lepero. 

There, on the canals, around the markets and pulque shops, the Indians 
and these miserable outcasts hang all day long ; feeding on fragments, 
quarrelling, drinking, stealing and lying drunk about the pavements, with 
their children crying with hunger around them. At night they slink off 
to these suburbs and coil themselves up on the damp floors of their lairs, 
to sleep off the effects of liquor, and to awake to another day of misery 



42 MEXICO.' 

and crime. Is it wonderful, in a city with an immense proportion of its 
inhabitants of such a class, (hopeless in the present and the future,) that 
there are murderers and robbers ? 



In the Indian population which pours into the Capital from the lakes, 
1 must say that there is apparently more worth and character. You see 
them lolling about in their boats on the canals, and passing and repassing 
in their canoes, plying between the city and Chalco and Tezcoco. It is 
abeautiful sight to behold these tiny vessels skim like floating gardens to 
the quays in the morning, laden to the water's edge with the fruits, flow- 
ers and vegetables, that hide the skiflfthat bears them. 

The old houses in this neighborhood, rising out of the canals, the slug- 
gish waters, and the dark multitude of the better classes in fanciful dresses, 
remind one strongly of Venice. 

Skirting the canal, and leading to the plain which adjoins the Chenampas, 
or former floating gardens, is the Paseo de la Viga, a public drive fre- 
quented by the heau monde, both in coach and on horseback, during the 
season of Lent. Scarcely an afternoon passes, at that period of the year, 
that the observer will not find the canal covered with gay boat-loads of 
Indians, passing homeward from market, dancing, singing, laughing, 
strumming the guitar, and crowned with wreaths of poppies. I do not 
know the origin of the custom of wearing this forgetful flower ; but it is 
both a healthier and more poetic oblivion than that resorted to by many 
folks in other lands, after a day of toil. 

Turning once more westward, we again reach the great square. 
As we pass the front of the National Palace, from out of its main portal 
dash fifty gayly-caparisoned huzzars, followed by a coach richly decked 
with crimson velvet and gold, drawn by four white horses and driven by 
a Yankee coachman. Behind this dash fifty more huzzars, while at the 
side of the coach, six aid-de-camps rein in their mettlesome chargers. 
There is but one person in the vehicle. His dress is that of a General of 
division, with red facings and gold embroideries. He wears a number 
of decorations around his neck, while a medal blazing with diamonds, 
voted to him by the nation, rests on his bosom. His sword-handle is 
studded with diamonds, and his hand rests on a diamond-headed cane. 
He is uncovered, and, as he passes and bows gracefully to your saluta- 
tion, you recognize the President of the Republic ! 

The departure of the President from the Palace has attracted a crowd. 
The adjoining market, ever filled with people, pours forth its multitudes 

into the square. 

First, there is the Aguador or water-carrier, with his two earthen 
jars— o'ne suspended by a leathern belt thrown around his forehead and 



THE AGUADOR. 



43 




THE AGUADOR. 



resting on his back, and the other suspended from the back of his head 
In front of him, preserving the equilibrium.* 

Next, there is the Indian with a huge coop of chickens and turkies 
or a crate of earthenware, or a pannier of oranges, borne on his back, 
like the aquador's jar. Then a woman, with peas, or ducks, or fish from 
the lake ; another with potatoes ; another drives along a poor stunted ass, 
laden with radishes and onions; and all the members of this motley 
crowd, are crying their wares and merchandise at the top of their voices. 
It is a Babel ! 

Amid the throng treads onward, with step majestic, the queenly Spanish 
woman ; by her side is a friar, and hard by a couple of priests in their 
graceful black cloaks and shovel hats. 

• An Englishman passing an aguador in the street, struck tlie jar on the fellow's back with his cane. It 
broke-and the weight of the other jar immediately brought tlie poor carrier on his nose. He arose in a rage. 
The oifender. however, immediately calmed him with a couple of dollars. " I only wanted to see wheUier yon 
were exacUn balanced, my dear fellow, and the experiment is worth the money /" 



44 



MEXICO, 




FRIAR AND PRIESTS. 



In the shadow of a pillar of the Portales sneaks a miserable looking 
wretch, wrapped in his tattered blanket — a lepero, porter, beggar, thief, as 
the occasion offers ; and he takes the advantage of the latter. employment 
in this moment of excitement, to ease an unsuspicious stranger of his 
handkerchief! 

A tinkle of a bell at the door of the Cathedral sacristy, and a roll of 
drums calling out the guard of honor at the palace gate, give warning of 
a change of scene. 

Slowly issues a gayly-painted coach with glass windows on all sides, 
drawn by spotted mules ; a priest in his vestments sits within ; a band 
of boys walk on each side, chanting a hymn ; and in a moment, a 
deathlike stillness pervades the whole square. From the tradesman, sel- 
ling his tapes under the Portales, to the thief, who has barely time to 
conceal the handkerchief in his dirty blanket, the whole crowd is un- 
covered and kneeling : the Host is passing to the house of some dying 
Catholic ! 

The carriage turns a corner, and the square is alive again ; the trades- 
man to sell, the lepero to steal, and the lesson of death is forgotten for 
ever ! 



THE ALAMEDA. 45 

Turning westward from the square we reach the Alameda, by a very 
short walk through the Calle Plateros, a street filled with the shops of 
goldsmiths, watchmakers, French hairdressers, French cooks, French 
milliners, French carvers and gilders, and French print-sellers ; and we 
pass on our way the rich Convent of the Professa or ex-Jesuits — and the 
more splendid one of the blue-robed Monks of St. Francis. The Ala- 
meda is a beautiful grove of forest-trees, planted on about ten acres of 
moist and luxuriant soil. The wood, which is walled and protected by 
gates closed every evening as the bells toll for Oracion, is intersected 
with walks and surrounded by a carriage road. Fountains fling up their 
waters where the paths cross each other, and the ground beneath the full- 
grown trees is filled with flowers and shrubbery. The great centre 
fountain is surmounted by a gilded figure of Liberty, and gilded lions 
spout forth the water at its feet. This, and the other smaller jets, in 
pleasanter and more secluded nooks, are circled with stone seats. It is 
the fashion to come here in carriages and on horseback every evening, 
(except during Lent,) and to drive round and round the inclosure, on the 
soft roads in the dense shade, until the vesper bell — or, to draw up in 
line on the side of one of the highways, while the cavaliers pass up and 
down in review, or prattle av/ay half an hour at the coach-window of 
some renowned belle. 

But there can be nothing more delightful than a walk here during the 
early morning. There is a freshness then in the air, a quiet and peace- 
fulness, that are found at no other time of the day. The student comes 
with his book ; the priest, from his early mass ; the nurse, with her baby ; 
the sentimental miss, to sigh for her lover, (and perhaps to see him ;) the 
dyspeptic, to earn an appetite for his breakfast ; the monk, the lounger, 
and even the laborer, stop for a moment beneath the refreshing shades, 
to take breath for the coming day. It is almost druidical in the solemn 
stillness of its groves, placed in the midst of a population of two hundred 
thousand. Even the birds seem to have been made sacred; scared from 
the plains, they are here in sanctuary, and no profane hand dares touch 
them. They have consequently planted, as if by consent of each other, 
distinct colonies in different parts of the wood ; the owl, sitting on her 
branch, in one place ; the doves, making love the business of their lives in 
another ; the mocking-birds, making a third spot a perfect choir ; and in- 
numerable sparrows and wrens, like so many Paul Prys, chattering and 
pottering about with an intrusive pertness through the dominions of all 
the rest. 

Directly west of the Alameda, and on the same street, is the Passeo 
Nuevo, another delightful drive of a mile in length, bordered with paths 
and trees, and divided by fountains adorned with statuary and sculpture. 

Passing out of the western gate of the Alameda, the fashionables 

every evening take a turn or two along this d'i'ive. On festivals it is 

crowded. All the equipages of the city must ie there, and it is the 

mode for every person of consideration, or who desires consideration, to 

4 



46 MEXICO 

possess an equipage. It is not thought " exactly proper"" for a lady ever to 
walk, except to mass — or, sometimes, when she goes shopping. The 
coach, therefore, on all gala days, is sure to appear on the Passeo with 
its fair burden, dressed in the French style, as^ for a dinner party or a 
ball. When I first arrived in Mexico, it was rare to see a bonnet on 
such occasions; but that awkward appendage of fashionable costume 
was becoming gradually in vogue before I left. 

For an hour, or more, it is the custom to pass up and down the sides 
of the Passeo, nodding and smiling at the cavaliers, who show off their 
horsemanship along the centre of the road. Here the utmost luxury and 
style are exhibited in the equipment of carriage and animals. Gold em- 
broidery, silver plating, and every ornament that can add splendor to 
harness and livery are brought forth. To such an extent is the taste for 
these exhibitions carried, that one of the millionaires of Mexico appears 
occasionally at the Paseo, on a saddle which (without counting the value 
of the rest of his caparison,) cost the sum of five thousand dollars. It 
was the chef d'ceuvre of an honest German saddler, who made it, and — 
retired from trade to his beloved " father land." 

On approaching this charming drive, the whole plain of the Valley of 
Mexico is at once revealed to you, without passing a dirty suburb. On 
your right, is the cypress-covered and castle-crowned hill of Chapulte- 
pec, formerly the site, it is alleged, of one of Montezuma's palaces ; before 
you and behind, stretch two immense aqueducts — the one coming from 
the hills, the other from a greater distance, near Tacubaya, and screening 
that village as it leans against the first slopes of the western mountains. 
On your left tower the volcanoes, on whose summits the last rosy rays 
of sunset are resting. 

The gay throng disperses, as the moon rises from behind the moun- 
tains, pouring a flood of clear light, bright as the day in other lands, 
over the tranquil landscape. 

The moonlight of Mexico is marvellously beautiful. That city, you 
remember, is 7,500 feet above the level of the sea, and nearly that 
number of feet closer to the stars than we are ; the atmosphere, conse- 
quently, is more rarefied, and the light comes, as it were, pure, and pel- 
lucid from heaven : you seem able to touch the stars, so brilliantly near 
do they stand out relieved against the back-ground of an intensely blue 
sky. Strolling on such nights in Mexico, when 1 saw the sharp lines of 
tower and temple come boldly out with shape and even color, almost 
as bright, yet softer than at noon-day, 1 have often been tempted to say 
that the moonlight you get at home (much as it is the theme of poets and 
lovers,) is but second-hand stuff, compared with that of Mexico. 

And so with the climates. Between the sea-shore at Vera Cruz and the 
volcanoes, whose eternal snows hang over Mexico, you have every climate 
of the world. 

In the Valley there is a perpetual spring. For six months in the 
year (the winter months, as they are called,) rain never falls ; during 



CLIMATE, 



47 



the other six months showers occur almost daily. It is never hot — never 
very cool, and you may wear your cloak or your summer dress the 
whole year according to the temper of your nervous system. One 
side of the street is always too warm at noon. Cold and sleeting as it is 
here in January, the roses are already blooming freshly in the gardens 
of Mexico. Nor is there perceptible change of foliage on the forest trees ; 
tlie new leaves push off the old ones with a " gentle force," and the 
regeneration of the seasons is effected without the process of fading, wilt- 
ing, withering and dying, which makes with us the melancholy days of 
autumn " the saddest of the year." 

To look at the external world, you would say there was no such thing 
as death in Mexico. The rose and the leaf you admire to-day, are 
replaced to-morrow, by fresh buds and renewed verdure. 




LETTER IX. . 

1&E CITY OP MEXICO. 

When a traveller arrives in an European city, nothing is easier than 
to find at once every species of accommodation for his comfort. Indeed, it 
is not necessary to seek them. He can scarcely walk a square in any 
of the capitals without being attracted by inviting labels, which promise 
splendid apartments and every luxury requisite in this age of elegance 
and ease.. 

Not so in Mexico. The Hotel Vergara, at which I first descended, 
though kept by a most courteous lady, who does all in her power to render 
her guests comfortable, is but a miserable establishment compared even 
with our most ordinary inns. It is but a small remove from the Fondas 
and Mesones of the olden time in Mexico. This arises from the fact that 
travelling is only of a recent date ; a new invention as it were, in Mexico. 
In former times, articles of merchandise were sent under the care of Ar- 
rieros, who were satisfied with the accommodation of the ordinary tavern, 
to wit: four walls, covered with a roof, in which they might stretch their 
mats, pile their saddles, and sleep — living, the while, on tortillias, 
onions, pulque and jerked meats. Whenever the better classes found it 
needful to visit the Capital, the house of some friend was open to them, 
and thus, hospitality prevented the creation of an honest race of Boni- 
faces to welcome the weary wayfarer. 

I soon became tired of my comfortless apartment, for which an extrava- 
gant price was charged, and betook myself to furnished rooms in a French 
Hotel, called the " Gran Sociedau," where, for about seventy dollars a 
naonth, I got a flea-haunted bed — space enough for my books and papers — 
a broad balcony shielded from the sun by a fanciful curtain — and two 
Frenchified meals per day, from a restaurateur kept in the same building. 

Here I tarried six months, until, tired in turn of the discomforts and 
expense, I went to housekeeping in a set of apartments with the American 
Consul. We took a portion of the first floor of a dwelling in the Calle 
Vergara, belonging to an ex-Marquesa, to whom, and to her worthy son, I 
must bear the testimony of a grateful heart for unwearied kindness m 
sickness and in health. The residence was one of the pleasantest, for 
its size, I know in Mexico. The entrance is into a paved yard, around 
which the house is built, with its apartments loolung into the court from 




I17TEBI0B OP A MEXICAir HOUSX. 



SOCIAL FEATURES. 4» 

all sides, perfectly screened from the street and sun. On the second 
floor, (on which we lodged,) a corridor runs round the walls, covered 
with a roof to protect it from the weather, and filled with orange and 
lemon trees, and a variety of flowering shrubs, planted in vases of rare 
old India china, that would delight the heart of a London fancier. 

Here my days were passed in the fulfillment of my official duties, and 
my evenings, when not at the theatre, (which I found a great aid in 
acquiring the language,) in the midst of this pleasant family. The ex- 
cellent lady at the head of it had once belonged to one of the wealthiest 
establishments in the Republic. The revolutions, and a series of mishaps, 
had broken her fortunes ; yet they could not deprive her of her talents, 
her accomplishments, her vivacity, or the kindness of her heart and tern- 
per. Qualities like these were sure to endear the friends of her better 
days, and, in truth, they had not deserted her. It was thus, that in her 
apartments, over- a quiet game of monte, where a thousand nuts were the 
highest stake ; I made many of my pleasantest acquaintances, both male 
and female, in Mexico. Here too I saw the better phases of Mexican 
character, in private life. The respect for age — the sincerity of friend- 
ship — the results of reading and education — and the honest, unpretending 
naturalness of character for which, over all other people I have ever met 
with, I think the best of them are remarkable. 

It has been taxed upon people who live in fine climates — where the 
warm sun and the teeming fields woo constantly to the open air — that they 
want the social virtues. They possess no fireside — that focus into which 
the family affections are gathered and cherished. I will not pretend that 
the Mexicans are a home people, like the Germans, the English, and, per- 
haps, ourselves ; but it is equally certain, that they are not without those 
social tastes and reunions, which make their dwellings a favorite re- 
sort. It is true, that much time is devoted by fashionable society to the 
morning mass, the evening drive, and to the theatre ; but, in a population 
of 200,000, these should not be regarded as the characteristics of the 
whole people. It is this partial examination of a class, and an identifica- 
tion of its peculiarities, habits or tastes, with those of the whole nation, 
that is the error of English tourists in their descriptions of our own 
country. It is neither by the most fashionable society — which is always 
the most corrupt, deceitful and unsubstantial ; nor by the very lowest class, 
which is always the most vicious — that we are to characterize nations. 
In the sober, patient, patriotic, toilsome, well taught, frugal, middle ranks 
of life — the true virtues, and noblest features of a people are most evi- 
dent ; and, although these characteristics may be found both among the 
very highest and the very lowest, yet it is alone in this class that they 
may be sought with certainty. 

****** 

The houses of the Mexicans are usually built of the strongest materials, 
either brick or stone, and without much architectural pretension. They 
are erected around patios, or court-yards, and are from 30 to 40 feet front 



50 MEXICO. 

on the street — the grand saloon being generally the length of the whole 
house. On the ground-floor are the porter's lodge, offices and carriage- 
house. From this, a flight of steps leads to an entresol, devoted to the 
domestics, while the upper story is universally the fashionable and best 
one. Here the family dwells in perfect seclusion from the street and 
neighbors, and the arcade which fronts their doors is filled with the choi- 
cest fruit and flower-trees in constant bloom. Above all this is the azotea, 
or flat, paved roof, a delightful retreat on summer nights. The front 
windows of the houses are all guarded by balconies covered with gayly- 
colored awnings ; and on days of festival, when filled with the gay throng 
of Mexican women, and hung with tapestry and velvet, they present a 
most brilliant appearance. 

The carriage, and ever-harnessed mules, stand constantly in the court- 
yard below ; and the postillion is ready to mount and sally forth at a 
moments' notice until after dark, when the large front gate is closed, locked 
and barred ; and the house becomes as quiet and secure as a castle, with 
which no communication from without is permitted, until you tell your 
name, or signify to the porter the object of your visit. Until this cere- 
mony has passed, no bolt is drawn in the wicket or latch raised to admit 
you ; and the caution is extremely necessary, on account of the frequent 
robberies that have been committed by allowing unknown persons to enter 
after dark. 

It has been said that " cleanliness is a virtue," and I think that polite- 
ness should be classed next to it. Cleanliness does not always proceed 
from the mere love of personal or domestic purity, but is often a mere 
evidence of respect for the opinion of the world. The same, perhaps, may 
be said of politeness. Be it what it may, however, it is one of the most 
agreeable sacrifices of social intercourse. The " old school " seems to 
have taken refuge among the Mexicans. They are formally, and I think, 
substantially, the politest people I have met with. Bowing and shaking 
hands are common all the world over, and in our country we do it stiffly, 
and often gruffly enough. Savages salute one another with a grunt, and 
the Chinese touch noses. But, in Mexico, there is something more than 
mere nonchalant nods of recognition and farewell. If you enter a Mexi- 
can's house, there is no rest among the inmates until you are made per- 
fectly at ease, and your hat and cane taken from you. The lady does 
not sit on the sofa — nod when you come in as if it were painful to bend 
or rise — talk with you about the weather as if your rheumatisms made 
you a species of walking barometer — and then expect you to nod again, 
and take yourself off as a bore ; but a frankness and a warmth are im- 
mediately thrown into the manner of the whole household as soon as you 
appear. No matter what they may be engaged in, or how much occu- 
pied; all is forgotten in a moment, and they are entirely at your service. 
Here, in the United States, I have paid fifteen or twenty visits on a morn- 
ing with a fashionable lady. To do so in Mexico — a man would be set 
down as an oddity. A visit is a visit — it is intended to be something. 



MANNERS 



51 



People feel that they can see, look at, and pass, each other in the street ; 
and they think a stare of five minutes from a chair, as meaningless as a 
stare on one s legs in the highway. In the saloon, they regard it proper 
to devote much time to the interchange of opinions sociably ; and they 
look upon indifference or a distrait air, or what would elsewhere be called 
fashionable ease, as little better than rudeness. 

Upon entermg a room, after any unusual absence, if well known to all 
the members of a family, you go through the process of an embrace, and 
the health and occupations of every member of your family are minutely 
and affectionately inquired for. After a while, if there are girls in the 
house, a little music will be given, or their drawings, embroidery, or 
other pretty works displayed, as you are supposed to have an interest in 
such things. And if you are a particular favorite^ the lady of the man- 
sion, who indulges in a cigarrito, will take a delicate one from her golden 
etui, light it, touch it to tier lips, and present it to you. 

At parting, the ceremony is very formal. You bid good-bye with an 
embrace, or, if less acquainted, with a profound bow to each individual ; 
you turn at the door of the saloon, and bow again ; the master of the house 
accompanies you to the head of the stairs, where you shake hands and 
bow again ; you look up from the landing of the first flight of stairs, and 
find him ready with another ; and as you pass through the court-yard 
below, (if he like you, or you happen to be a person of consideration,) 
you find him gazing from among the flowers over the balustrade, and still 
gracefully nodding farewell ! Before this^waZe it is not very safe to put 
on your hat. 




LAOr QOINQ TO MASI. 



52 MEXICO. 

There are few things more beautiful than the salutation of a Mexican 
lady. Among themselves they never meet without embracing. But to 
men and strangers, on the street, they lift the right hand to near the lips, 
gently inclining the head toward it, and gracefully fluttering their fingers, 
send forth their recognition with an arch-beaming of the eye that is almost 
as bewitching as a kiss. 

The universal conclusion of the day with a fashionable lady in Mexico, 
is the theatre. She begins with mass, to which she walks in the morning 
with her mantilla gracefully draped around her head, and falling in folds 
of splendid lace over her breast and shoulders. But the night must end 
in full dress at the opei-a or theatre. It is as regular and as much a 
matter of course as her meals. 

It is then you may behold the Mexican woman in perfection. And 
yet, to confess the truth, I cannot say that they are beautiful according 
to our ideas of beauty in the United States. 

You do not see those charming skins and rosy complexions, nor do 
you observe that variety of tint ^hich springs from the mingling of many 
nations on our soil ; but there is, nevertheless, something in Mexican 
women, be they fair or dark, that bewitches while you look at them : it is, 
perhaps, a universal expression of sweetness and confiding gentleness. 

There is not much regularity of features ; no " Attic foreheads and 
Phidian noses;" no "rose-bud lips whose kisses pout to leave their nest;" 
no majestic symmetry to compel admiration ; but their large, magnificent 
eyes, where, the very soul of tenderness seems. to dwell, and their natural 
grace, conquer every one. Their gait is slow, stately, majestic. 

The commonest woman of the middle ranks you encounter on the 
streets, with but a fanciful petticoat, and her shawl or reboso, struts a 
queen — her feet small almost to deformity. Her figure, though full to 
embonpoint, you never think too fat ; her lively enthusiasm always seems 
tempered and delicately subdued by the softness of her eye, and you 
feel that her complexion, sallow or dark as it often is, is yet no more than 

■ " The embrowning of the fruit that tells 

How rich within the soul of sweetness dwells." 

I give opposite, sketches of the costume of the lower class of females, as 
you see them constantly in the house and on the street, with and without 
the shawl, or reboso. Without it the dress is scarcely any dress at all : 
one garment — besides a petticoat — braced with a sash around the waist, 
while the hair falls in a long plait down the back. With it — their cos- 
tume is made up. Flung gracefully over the left shoulder and passed 
across the mouth — you see nothing but the eyes, which are her greatest 
charm, and she never attempts to conceal them or neglect their power. 

In speaking of the fine eyes, the beautiful feet, and the queenly tread 
of the Mexican ladies, and their costume, I should not forget to mention 
that an embroidered India crape shawl, blazing with all the colors of the 



MEXICAN BELLES, 



53 




WITH AND W I T H tl T THE K E B S . 



rainbow, and a painted fan, are indispensable portions of a complete dress. 
Theyan is none of your new-fangled inventions of feather and finery, but 
the old-fashioned reed and paper instruments used by our grandmothers. 
The opening and shutting — the waving and folding of these is an especial 
language. They touch them to their lips — flirt them "wide open — close 
them — let their bright eyes peep over the rim — display their jewelled hands 
and witching eyes, and, in fact, carry on a warfare of graceful coquetry 
from behind these pasteboard fortresses, that has forced, ere now, many 
a stout heart to cry for quarter ! 



LETTER X. 

THE CITY OF MEXICO. 
SENTIMENTAL BUTCHER AND PKOFESSIONAL BEGGARS. 

It is the custom for most of the small dealers to hawk their wares about 
the streets, and indeed, you may thus be supplied with all the necessaries 
of life. The aguador brings you water. The butcher sends his ass with 
meat. The Indians bring butter, eggs, fruit, and vegetables ; the boat- 
men, fresh fish from the lake ; and cakes and sweetmeats are carried daily 
in travs to your door. There are, nevertheless, a market and stalls, or 
small shops in the streets. In a large and poor population like this the 
compethion must necessarily be very great. 

One of the butchers in the Calle Taenia always amused me. His 
shop is about the size of a stall, the whole front being open to the street, 
with a fine game-cock, tied by the leg on the sill. Suspended from the ceil- 
ing, and but two or three feet from the doorway, hangs the entire carcass 
of 1 beef; at a short distance behind is the counter ; and, in the rear of 
this aaain, is a row of kids and delicate morsels, festooned with gilt pa- 
per and yards of sausages, hung in the most tasteful lines and curves. 
In the centre of this carnal show rests an image of the " Holy Virgm of 
Guadalupe," under whose protection he thus places his larder and his 

" custom." ■ . V v. 

The most interesting figure, however, in the picture, is the butcher 
himself; a sentimental-looking fellow, with black eyes, curhng locks, 
and altogether a most captivating personage, barring a sort of oily lustre 
that polishes his skin. I invariably find him lounging romantically over 
his saw and cleaver, strumming his guitar to half-a-dozen housemaids, 
who, doubtless, are attracted to his steaks by his amorous staves. It is 
rare to see such a mixture of meat and music. What would be said with 
us at home, to see the celebrated Jones or Smith, in the Fulton market, 
mounted on his block, with a blue ribbon about his neck, and a dozen 
damsels grouped around him, listening, with rapt air, to the pet morceau 
of the last opera! Yet the suggestion might be useful m these days, 
when invention is taxed to the utmost for new modes of attracting the 
people. la Mexico at any rate it is characteristic, and I have, therefore, 

note i it. 

* ♦ • ♦ * * 




HEAD OF BEGGFAB. 



BEGGARS. 55 

Go where you will in this city, you are haunted by beggars. Beg- 
gary is a profession ; but it is not carried to quite the extent that it is in some 
of the Italian States, and especially the Sicilian dominions. 

The capital employed in this business is blindness, a sore leg, a de- 
crepit father or mother, or a helpless child ; in the latter case, a stout 
hearty boy usually strapi= the feeble one on his back, and runs after ev- 
ery passer beseeching succor. With such a stock in trade, and a good 
sunny corner, or wall of a church door, the petitioner is set up for life. 
Placed in so eligible a situation, their cry is incessant from morning 
to night: "Seilores amigos, por el amor de dios ;" "for the love of the 
blessed Virgin !" "by the precious blood of Christ !" "by the holy mys- 
tery of the Trinity !" repeated with many variations between their eter- 
nal scratchings, winking of lids over sightless balls, and the display 
of maimed limbs and every species of personal deformity. There is no 
" poor-house" in Mexico, to which such vagrant wretches are forced to go. 

One blind beggar, remarkably well dressed, and a person who has evi- 
dently enjoyed better fortunes, takes up his place on the seat around the 
chief fountain of the Alameda, every day at noon, and is attended ly a 
couple of servants ; his respectful demeanor is, doubtless, a valuable capital. 

Another beggar has a burlp porter to carry him seated in a chair on his 
back. 

Then there are silent beggars — "poveri vergognosi," — as you see in 
Italy ; men who make no oral demand for charity, but crook their bodies, 
and bow their concealed faces, in such a shape of interrogative supplica- 
tion, that the heart must be hard that could resist them. One of this spe- 
cies particularly arrested my notice. I never met him by daylight, and 
he may not have been what he appeared to be ; but often at midnight, 
when returning from the theatre, I have encountered him, cold and shiv- 
ering under the portales. He seemed to be at least 80 years of age ; was 
bent almost double, had a shocking bad cough, and squeaked out in the 
most piping treble you ever heard, that " he was just waiting for some (me 
to take him home." He had been waiting thus for many a- year ! 

They all have different voices according to the length of time they have 
been employed. There are your old sturdy beggars who bellow out their 
ritual ; then the modest novice ; then an old fellow who never utters a 
distinct word, but rolls on the ground and howls, as if with pain ; the while 
his eyes glance from right to left to see how it operates f Near my dwel- 
ling, at a church door, always sat a gray-headed blind man, who was as 
much a fixture as one of the pillars of the edifice. The oldest neighbors 
could not remember when he first came there. He usually arrived about 
noon, as soon as the shadow of the church fell over his wonted seat and 
afforded shade. He begged stoutly for an hour or so, when a daughter 
brought him an excellent warm dinner. This dispatched, he went. to work 
again with the " por el amor de dios," until he literally sang himself into 
a siesta. Yet the ruling passion never deserted him even in sleep. His 



56 MEXICO. 

head nodded, but his open and outstretched palm rested on his knee — a 
permanent money-box ! 

Although exhibitions like this are enough to shut the heart in a coun- 
try where the earth yields almost for the asking, yet there are cases of 
misery that do not appeal in vain. 

A poor little beggar-boy attracted my attention by haunting the door of 
the Gran Sociedad. We noticed him first by seeing something coiled up 
in the corner of the portal, which looked like a dirty puppy dog, shiver- 
ing with the cold. Slowly, however, at our approach, it unwound itself 
from the lair, and a poor little boy- tottered toward us with the most 
wan and wretched look I ever beheld, and the most beautiful black eyes 
that ever appealed for charity. He was a personification of poor Oli- 
ver Twist — a perfect little atomy. We gave him a real, and he trotted 
off delighted: yet his feeble limbs, around which there was scarcely any 
clothing, refused to carry him twenty steps : he tottered and fell against 
the wall to which he clung for support. I went to him again : " Muero 
de Ids frios, senor," — I am dying of the chills, said he, in his little piping 
voice, rendered almost inarticulate from pain, accompanied by that slow 
motion of the head from side to side indicative of suffering. 

We put a small blanket over him, gave him shoes and food, and thus 
strengthened and warmed, he gradually reached home. 

The next day he made his appearance again, without shoes, shirt, or 
blanket, and with no covering but his ragged trowsers of cotton, tied 
across his shoulder with a piece of twine, and an old handkerchief about 
his neck. It was decided that he was a professional beggar, and his 
pains were but capital acting. 

] did r^ot think so, however ; and while others speedily rejected him, 1 
determined to satisfy myself that a human being would voluntarily starve 
himself until the bones peered through his shrunken skin, before I would 
deny the suflTerer the comfort of a daily morsel. Upon inquiry, I found 
that his story was true : that he was the only child of a bed-ridden mother, 
who, confined with rheumatism to a mat stretched on the earthen floor of 
a hovel in the suburb, had been unable to provide food for herself or 
her son for more than a month. Besides this, the urchin had sold the 
shoes and blanket we had given him to buy bread for his parent. 

He was a regular pensioner afterward, and his mother recovered. 
The last time I saw him was in the Alameda, to which he had crawled, 
saying that the "sunshine felt so comfortable, and that in its broad walks 
he did not suffer so much from the 'frios.' " 

For a long period, after this, I missed the urchin, and knew not what 
had become of him ; until one afternoon passing the wall of the convent 
of Santa Clara, I saw a man trotting along at ihe usual Indian gait, with 
a tray on his head which appeared to be covered with roses. Behind 
him was a ragged Upera, in teai s, with her long black hair hanging over 
her shoulders. As the man passed me, I looked into the tray and found 
it contained a corpse. It was that of a child who had died of consump- 



THEDEADBOY. 57 

tion. The flesh, worn to the utmost emaciation, was stretched tightly 
over the prominent bones ; his little hands were bound over his breast, 
with a single thread of gold, in the attitude of prayer ; the body was sprin- 
kled with faded artificials, and its mouth was perked up, and its lips 
parted, as if the sufferer had died with a wail of pain. 

It was my little beggar-boy. The "frios^' had been too much for him. 



LETTER XI. 



A BULL FIGHT. 



I WAS told after my arrival in Mexico, that unless I remained some 
time I was likely to lose the three great " amusements " of Mexico, to 
wit : a Revolution — an Earthquake — and a Bull Fight. The two former 
I would gladly have dispensed with ; and as to the latter, civilization had 
recently introduced the Ope^a, and the cadenzas of Italian vocalists had 
been substituted for the roars of the dying bull. 

But I was to be gratified by the sight of at least one of these recrea- 
tions. 

A fight came off rather unexpectedly in the Plaza de Toros, an im- 
mense circus, erected when this sport was in its palmy days in Mexico. 

It was Sunday, and the people were unoccupied. The idlers had a 
few spare medios, picked up by toil, beggary or pilfering, during the week, 
and, as to the rich, it was expected that of course they would be gratified 
by the sight of an exhibition from which they had been long debarred. 

I have a great objection to all these brutal displays, but I hold it to be 
a man's duty to see a specimen of everything in the course of his life. 
In Europe I went to see dissections and the guillotine, and on that princi - 
pie, in Mexico I went to a bull fight. 

The expectations of the projectors of the day's sport were not disap- 
pointed. The two tiers of boxes and the circle below of this immense 
theatre, were filled to the very brim of the arena with not less than eight 
thousand men, women and children. The hour of opening was four 
o'clock — the day warm and cloudless — and the sun shone brightly over 
the motley assemblage in their gay and varied costumes. The sunny 
side of the edifice was devoted to the plebs — the other half to the patri- 
cians, or half-a-dollar payers, who thereby enjoyed the luxury of shade. 

We arrived too late to see the entrance of the first bull — he was already 
in the arena, and the picadors were goading him with their long lances, 
while the six gayly-dressed, lithe and active matadors teased him with 
red cloaks, which they flirted within a few feet of his horns, and enabled 
them, as he sprung to gore the garment, to display their agility in avoid- 
ing the deadly blow of his horns. 



ABULLFIGHr. 59 

After annoying him thus with cloaks and lances for about ten minutes, 
a trumpet was sounded ; and immediately a dozen banderillos, or small 
lances, covered with gilt and flowered paper, were stuck in his neck, 
making him bound with rage at the assailant as he felt every new sting 
of the cruel weapons. 

This done, the crowd circled around, and he stood in the midst, snort- 
ing, pawing the earth, veering h's head from one portion of the ring 
to the other, beholding everywhere an armed foe pointing at him with a 
lance, and howling as if to dare them to attack. But he was effectually 
tamed. 

Another blast from the trumpet, and two of the matadors approached 
stealthily from the rear, and plunged lances surrounded with fireworks, 
into the skin of his neck. Snorting, roaring, blazing, cracking, he 
bounded over the arena lashing himself with his tail, and dashing, with- 
out purpose, at everything. 

At the third blast of the trumpet, the chief matador, who now made his 
first appearance, stepped forth, and proceeded to the judge's gallery for 
the sword, to dispatch the animal. By this time the fireworks had burned 
out, and the bull had been teased toward the southern barricade of the 
theatre. Panting with fatigue, rage and exhaustion, he stood at bay. 
The matador (an Andalusian, in pumps, silk stockings, and a tight-fitting 
purple dress, embroidered with bugles,) was a person of herculean frame, 
and his manly form, in the perfection of human beauty and strength, 
contrasted finely with the huge mass of bone and muscle in the beast. 

He wound his red cloak around the short staff" which he held in his 
left hand, and approached the bull, grasping in his right his well-poised 
sword. The bull, worried by the red cloak, bounded at him. As the 
animal stooped to gore, the matador leapt to the left with the bound of a" 
deer, and receiving the beast with the whole shock of his weight and 
spring on the point of his weapon, passed it through his heart, and laid 
him dead without a struggle at his feet. The circus rang with applause 
at the successful stroke. Drawing out his blade, black with blood, the 
matador wiped it on the cloak, and bowing to the multitude, restored it to 
the judge. 

The trumpet sounded again : a rope was noosed around the beast's 
horns, three gayly-caparisoned horses were led in, the carcass was hitched 
to them, and, at another blast of the trumpet they dragged the body, at 
full gallop, out of the circus. A shovel-full of fresh earth was thrown 
over the pool of blood ; the trumpet was again sounded ; the eastern bar- 
ricade thrown open, and in bounded the second bull. 

Almost blinded by his sudden plunge into daylight from the utter dark- 
ness of his den, and astounded by the shouts and jeers of the spectators, 
he rushed to the centre of the arena, and paused. His head wandered 
from side to side, as if seeking for something at which to tilt. He pawed 
the earth, la?hed his back with his tail, and was evidently "game." 
5 



60 MEXICO. 

In a moment, the three picadors were at him with their long lances; 
and, in the next, two of them were rolling in the dust, and trampled by 
the savage beast. This brought applause from the multitude ; and an 
honest Irishman near me shouted, at the top of his lungs, " Iravo, bull !" 

The matadors, however, were instantly at him with their red cloaks, 
and distracting his attention from the fallen picadors, gave them time to 
rise and mount — at least one of them, I should say, for the horse of the 
other had been gored in the stomach, and as he rose, his entrails trailed 
along the ground ! 

The usual routine was gone through with this bull as with the first; 
and at length the trumpet sounded for the chief matador to receive the 
sword. 

But this was evidently not an animal to be trifled with ; and the 
courageous Andalusian approached him warily. As he came up with 
the bull, the beast was near the edge of the barricade, and foaming 
with rage. His hair was yet blazing from the explosion of the crackers. 
The Andalusian flirted the red cloak in his eyes, and, turning as usual 
to the right to give the blow as the animal sprang, he lucklessly missed 
his aim, and was caught at a yard's distance between the palisade and 
the beast. A bound over the inclosure saved him, while the bull's horns 
were driven against the boards, with a force that made the theatre ring 
and the strong timbers quiver. 

Directly, however, was the stout-hearted fighter again on the sands and 
taunting his foe. Another spring — another wave of the cloak in the 
beast's eyes — and his sword was plunged up to the hilt in his neck, the 
point penetrating the skin and hair and shining out on his other side, just 
above the right shoulder. Yet the wound was not fatal, and the beast 
bounded on madder than ever. A picador came at him, and was tram- 
pled in the dust. Another came on, and his horse, too, was tossed in the 
air; yet, preserving his balance, he alighted on his feet, and as his horse 
rose from his fall, he rose with him, seated on his saddle ; at the same 
time, with admirable presence of mind, slinging his lasso, which caught 
on one horn but unfortunately slipped off. Unsuccessful as was this act, 
the self-command, the horsemanship, and the graceful skill of the picador, 
brought down a storm of applause. 

Meantime, the Andalusian had recovered his wind, and was ready for 
another assault on his unconquered foe ; but this time he made the attack 
unarmed. Mad as the animal was, and goaded by the lances sticking in 
his back, his skin scorched, and the weapon thrust through his body, yet the 
matador approached bravely ; he threw his cloak once more on the beast's 
eyes, and, with a leap over his horns as he stooped, caught the handle of 
the sword and drew it out streaming with blood. 

What with annoyance, and exhaustion from the loss of blood, the bull's 
strength was by this time well nigh spent. He made for the door in the 
barricade whence he had been admitted to the arena. He paused at the 
gate — the blood pouring from his wound. It was evident he was dying, 



ABULLFIGHT. 61 

and all attacks were at once abandoned. He had fought so bravely that 
picadors, matadors, coleadors, and all the troop of the arena drew round 
him in a circle, as if to look on the death-struggle of a heio. All seemed 
struck with admiration ! the leperos in the galleries, even, were hushed to 
profound silence. 

The bull stood a moment as if uncertain what to do. I confess that the 
poor wretch seemed to me to possess intellect — an intellect, stung by the 
reproach of strength foiled by an inferior and despised foe. 

He felt his limbs grow feebler. He attempted to run, but his legs re- 
fused to move. He lifted his feet convulsivly — waved his tail — opened his 
eyes as if alarmed by a sudden nervous fear, and fixed them with a fierce 
stare on the blood which was pouring in a stream before him. He tried 
to run ; reeled twice, but recovered his balance. A matador then came 
again before him with his cloak and a short dagger, to put an end to the 
painful scene ; but as he approached, the beast swayed himself forward 
with his lips drawn Tip, and the foam covering his teeth — drew himself up 
still and stiff as a statue, for a dying effort of power — then suddenly 
bending his head to the earth, sprang at the matador and fell dead — 

" Foiled, breathless, bleeding, furious — to the last !" 
* ** * * * * * 

This was the best fight of the evening. Five more bulls were brought 
out, but nearly all proved craven. None, however, were killed by the 
matador at the first blow, which rather lowered the mob's opinion of 
his skill. Some of the animals were caught by the tail, which, twisted 
around the high pommel of the saddles of the coleadors, while their 
horses were brought to a sudden halt, threw the bulls on their sides. 
These, however, were the utter cowards. Others were caught with the 
lasso around the horns or heels, and I »had thus the first opportunity of 
seeing the perfection obtained by most Mexican horsemen in the use of 
this useful instrument. One of the bulls bounded over the palisade, 
among the spectators, within a few feet of me ; but he was so contemptible 
a beast, that he seemed more pleased to get rid of the crowd than the 
crowd was to get rid of him. He was of course sacrificed in some very 
ignoble manner. 

As the evening sports ended, and even before sunset, the moon rose 
in her calm majesty, casting her mild light on the multitude in that bloody 
circus. The towers and dome of a church overlook the walls of the arena 
on the east, and the bells called the crowd from that scene of carnage on 
the Sabbath evening, to the adjacent retreat of peacefulness and religion ! 
As I went home, I could not help asking myself, if I had spent those hours 
profitably ? It is true that there are " sermons in stones, and good in 
everj'-thing ;" and the contrast of life and death — the passage of a crea- 
ture from robust and active health, and the full enjoyment of every phys- 
. ical power, to death and utter oblivion — was, it is equally true, a sermon 
and a lesson. But to how many ? Was there a lepero there, who went 
away taught, thoughtful or moralizing ? 



62 MEXICO. 

I must confess, that I can regard these festivals but with a feeling of 
unqualified disgust, both at the scene, itself, and at the gradual destruc- 
tion of the finer sentiments which such exhibitions, frequently repeated 
before all classes, must inevitably produce. 

When the Romans had exhausted the whole round of natural amuse- 
ments, they invented those of the circus ; and, not contented with the civi- 
lized butchery of the brute creation, in process of time they matched man 
against beast, and man against man. It was the extreme of refinement — 
the height of expensive luxury — the termination of that vicious circle of 
society, where civilization merges into barbarism. It was an omen of 
the speedy decline of that mighty empire. 

The exhibition of the slaughter-house, as a sport, can tend alone to 
foster a brutal passion for blood. Death becomes familiarized as a play- 
thing to the multitude. They make a clown of the grim monster. They 
put him as a joker on the arena for Sabbath sports ; and the day that is 
assigned as a period of repose, thankfulness, love, and remembrance of 
the blessed God, is converted into a school-time of the worst passions that 
can afflict and excite the human heart. 

It may be said, that this is not true of all classes. I grant it, and reply 
that although all classes visit the circus, yet the majority of the spec- 
tators is doubtless composed of the lowest ranks, requiring most moral in- 
struction, and least addicted to reasoning. With such a population as that 
of the leperos of Mexico, (men scarcely a remove from the beasts whose 
slaughter they gloat on,) these scenes of murder, in which bulls, matadors 
and picadors, are often indiscriminately slain, can only serve to nourish 
the most wicked passions, and to nerve the ignorant and vile to deeds of 
most daring criminality. 

It will be a matter of sincere congratulation for Mexican patriots, when 
this remnant of barbarism is abolished in their country, and the thousands 
which are annually expended in bull-fights throughout the Republic, are 
devoted to the education or rational amusement of the people. 



LETTER XII. 



THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE AND HEE FESTIVAL. 



The 12th of December is the Festival of the "Virgin of Guadalupe," 
(the Patron Saint of Mexico ;) and as the history of this personage, and 
The ceremonies in her honor are rather singular ; and the shrine where 
she is worshipped is one of the most magnificent in the Republic, I will 
give you some account of them. 

The church lies about three miles from the city, at the foot of the 
Sierra that rises from the plain on the north. The great Collegiate 
edifice is built on the level ground ; but the ancient, and I believe the 
original chapel, is on the top of an adjacent hill. The collection of 
buildings, devoted to this saint, form a little village of themselves, in- 
dependently of the small town, Avhich has grown up in the process of 
time from the pickings and pilgrimages to the sacred shrine. 

On the day in question, thousands went out to the church from the city 
of Mexico. From early in the morning, the magnificent paved road, 
built to this spot, in the palmy days of the Spanish Empire, was cov- 
ered with foot-passengers, horsemen, leperos, Indians, grandees in their 
sumptuous coaches, and in fact by all the population of the town, who 
could either walk, or afford to ride at their own or others' cost. Not a 
vehicle was to be had in the Capital for love or money, unless begged or 
hired on the preceding day. 

I went rather late, and found the churches crammed to suflx)cation, 
while the Archbishop recited mass, and the President and the high officers 
of state, seated under a canopy of crimson velvet, in the main body of 
the building, assisted in the service. 

A large portion of the crowd was composed of leperos, in their greasy 
blankets ; and from far and wide in the Department of Mexico, and even 
from some others, thousands of Indians had come to the festival, with 
their wives and children. In such a crowd, on a rather warm day, and ir. 
a church of ordinary size, you will readily agree with me that the. odor 
was not exactly that of attar of roses — consequently I left them to their 
devotions ; and, with a friend, betook myself to the open air and a sur- 
vey of the premises. 



64 MEXICO. 

Yet this could scarcely be called an escape : the crowd without seemed 
quite as great as that within. In the Plaza, over part of which an awning 
was spread for a procession at the close of the ceremonies, the Indians 
had erected booths where they displayed their wares, and were driving a 
profitable trade in trinkets, pictures of saints, &c. ; a mode of speculation 
which they imitated from the priesthood, who, at the doors of the churches, 
likewise carried on a brisk business in selling to the faithful slips of crim- 
son ribbon, about two feet long, with a pious inscription, and medals of the 
Holy Virgin, for sixpence a-piece. I bought one, and passed on. 

In the shops around the square were all the unoccupied Mexicans. 
The church was too small to contain them, and they were necessarily 
forced to retire to these establishments ; where, with their donzellas of the 
reboso, they luxuriated on lemonade, oranges, and sweet biscuits, varying 
;heir food and flirtations with a choice cigarrito. 

At the distance of about two hundred yards from the main edifice, an- 
other chapel is erected over a spring of mineral water. This is regarded 
as a " holy well ;" and part of the ceremonial, upon this occasion, is to dip 
the fingers in the sacred stream, and to make with it a sign of the cross on 
brow and breast. In all such seasons, none are of course more devout 
and more conscientious in the performance of this duty than the Indians. 
They believe that the Virgin herself has specially consecrated the wa- 
ter ; and the consequence is, that a simple dip is by no means sufficient. 
I suppose there could not have been less than three thousand of these In- 
dians in the village, half of whom were constantly pressing, squeezing, 
shouting, with their women by their sides, and their children, in full squall, 
strapped to their backs ; all struggling, either to approach or leave the 
well. Not satisfied, however, with a dip in the water, they felt it to 
be a religious duty to wash ; and as so many thousands were paddling 
in maudlin devotion, the well became necessarily fouled, notwithstand- 
ing its sacredness. In addition to this, as all could not reach the foun- 
tain itself, multitudes were obliged to content themselves with the refuse 
that drained along the gutters, after having served for the ablutions of the 
more fortunate. The consequence was. that a more besmeared set of 
wretches was never displayed, than when the Indians completed their pious 
lustrations toward evening. But even this did not exhaust their craving 
appetites for the sacred water ; and every one who could buy, borrow, steal, 
or own a vessel, capable of containing liquids, bore it with him to his 
distant home full of the turbid flood. It was a panacea for many an ill, 
and perhaps superior in efficacy to a " blessed candle !" 

From the door of the edifice over the well, a steep stairway strikes up 
the hill side of Tepeyac, to a church on the summit ; and to this, it is the 
duty of all to perform a pilgrimage in the course of the day. I followed 
the steps of the multitude ; but as the church was crowded even more 
densely with natives than the edifice below, I refrained from entering, 
and sat down on a pile of stones to enjoy a charming view of the Valley 



LEGEND OF THE VIRGIN. 65 

and lakes, slumbering in the misty sunshine, as beautiful as the days of 
our Indian summer. 

The steps and walls that led to this shrine were once in perfect order ; 
but the mountain chapel has been neglected, and suffered to decay since 
the holy picture was placed in the edifice on the plain, where the padres 
are more comfortably nestled than on the spot of the miraculous gift. 

As I gazed down from this elevation, I was struck with the appearance 
of a curious towering mass of brick and mortar, half way up the hill, 
that looked in the distance like a sail. Upon inquiry, I learned the fol- 
lowing story of its erection. 

Many years ago, while a wealthy Mexican was at sea, returning from 
Old Spain, a violent storm arose, which threatened his vessel with im- 
minent danger. The gale grew gradually stronger ; the vessel leaked ; 
every sail was lost, and hope herself seemed to have deserted the ill-starred 
bark, when the Mexican bethought him of the patron Virgin of his 
native land. In a moment he was on his knees, with a prayer and a vow to 
Guadalupe — a vow, that if she listened and saved, he would build in 
Mexico another temple to her glory ! The wind lulled — the sea became 
calm — -a friendly vessel hove in sight — and the drowning crew was 
rescued. 

But with the calm, the worshipper's fervor also relaxed ; and on his re- 
turn, instead of bestowing thousands in the adornment of at least a costly 
altar to the Virgin, he compromised the matter, by the erection of the 
semblance of a sail in brick and mortar on the ascending wall side ! 
Whether he ever trusted himself at sea again after such faithlessness, 
the legend does not tell ! 

While recounting the stories of this spot, it would be improper to omit 
the legend of the Virgin herself; and in order that it may come with due 
authority, and not rest alone upon hearsay, I translate the anecdote from 
a sermon of the Illustrious Cardinal de Lorenzano, Archbishop of Mex- 
ico, preached by him in the Collegiate church in 1760. 

" In the year 1531, ten years and four months after the conquest of 
Mexico, the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on the mountain of Te- 
peyac. The matter occurred thus: On the 9th of December of that 
year the adventurous Indian, Juan Diego, a native of Quatititlan, went to 
Tlaltelolco to study the Christian doctrine, inasmuch as it was there taught 
by certain holy Franciscan monks. Passing by the mountain, the Most 
Holy Virgin appeared, and told him to go, in her name, to the Illustrious 
Bishop Don Francisco Juan de Zummarraga, and say that she desired 
him to come and worship on that spot. On the 10th of the same month 
Juan Diego returned to the mountain, and the Holy Virgin again ap- 
peared, asking him the result of his commission. Diego replied, that 
notwithstanding his efforts, he could not obtain admission to the Bishop. 
Then, the Virgin answered, « Return, and tell him that I, Mary' the 
Mother of God, have sent you !' Juan Diego carefully executed the 



66 MEXICO. 

order, but the Senor Zummarraga refused him credence : his only re- 
ply being, that he must have some token to satisfy him of the verity of 
the annunciation. Again Juan Diego returned to the mountain with this 
message of the Bishop, and delivered it to the Holy Virgin, who appeared 
to him on the 12th of December for the third time. She ordered him then 
to ascend the mountain of Tepeyac, cut roses and bring them to her. 
The humble and happy messenger went, notwithstanding he knew full 
well that on the mountain there were not only no roses, but no vegetation 
of any kind. Nevertheless, he found the flowers and brought them to 
Mary ! She threw them in the tilma (a part of Indian dress) and said to 
him, ' Return once more to the Bishop and tell him that these flowers are 
the credentials of your mission.' Accordingly, Juan Diego immediately 
departed for the episcopal residence, which, it is said, was then in the 
house called the Hospital del Amor de Dios ; and when he found himself 
in the presence of the prelate, he unfolded his tilma to present the roses, 
when, lo ! there appeared on the rude garment that Messed picture of the 
Virgin, which now after centuries still exists, without having suffered the 
slightest injury ! Then the illustrious Bishop took the image, and placed 
it in his oratory. It is now in this Collegiate church. The Virgin ap- 
peared again, a fourth time, to the Indian. She then restored to health 
his uncle, named Juan Bernardino, and told Diego — ' The image on thy 
tilma I wish called the Virgin of Guadalupe !' " 

Such is the story given of the sacred portrait, the original of which 
presides over the destinies of Mexico ; whose name — " Maria de Guada- 
lupe" — is given to one half the females of the Republic, and whose shrine 
is one of the wealthiest in the world. A copy of this picture is hung in 
every dwelling in Mexico, a household god, as dearly cherished as the 
little clay images were by the ancient Indians. The motto beneath, " Non 
fecit taliter omni Nationi,'' is full of pride and consolation. 

Toward the close of the services in the church the crowd became less 
dense, and I ventured within. For the last half hour I obtained a good 
stand directly in front of the position occupied by General Santa Anna, 
and an opportunity was thus afforded me of seeing him at his devotions. 
The same refinement of manner, easy grace, and perfect decorum which 
characterize the well-bred Mexicans in their dwellings, adhere to them in 
church ; and the President and his little military court fully sustained 
upon that occasion the reputation of their countrymen. 

That night I saw him again at a ball given by General Valencia, in 
honor of his wife; who, being named '■^ Maria de Guadalupe," enjoys this 
as her festal day as well as the saint. The ball, the music, the style, and 
the supper were all excellent ; and although I went with a headache at 
ten, I did not leave the cheerful walls of the General until the " small 
hours" of next morning. This ball and supper, I was told by those who 
prepared it, cost our host the sum of near four thousand dollars , and 
from this, you may form an opinion of the extravagance of living and 



IMAGEOFTHEVIRGIN. 67 

luxuries in Mexico. A similar entertainment could have been given m 
the United States for less than five hundred. 



Some time after the visit to Guadalupe, of w'nich the above is a sketch, 
T drove out again on a quiet day when there was no ceremonial, to see 
the establishment undisturbed and at leisure. The capellan politely 
offered to show us over the edifice, and point out the various objects ot 
interest. 

He took us first to the sacristy, where are found some badly painted 
pictures and tinsel figures ; and thence to the main body of the church, 
which, in architectural proportion and chasteness of adornment, is the 
neatest I have seen in Mexico. The ornaments are all green and gold, 
on a white polish'ed surface, and have just been renewed. 

Candles wefe lighted in front of the miraculous portrait of the Virgin ; 
the capellan knelt for a moment before it, and then drawing aside a 
curtain, displayed the picture itself. 




THE VIRGIN OF GUADALTIPK, 



The altar at the north end, and the canopy and pillars around it, are of 

the finest marbles. Above it, in a frame of solid gold, covered with a 
crystal plate, is the figure of the Virgin painted on the Indian's tilma, as 
represented in the preceding cut. On each side of the image, within the 
frame and extending its whole length, are strips of gold literally crusted 
with emeralds, diamonds and pearls. At the feet of the figure there are 
again large clusters of the same costly gems. From each side of the frame 



68 MEXICO. 

issues a circle of golden rays, while above it, as if floating in the air, 
hangs the figure of a dove, of solid silver, as large as an eagle ! 

Descending from the altar, you lean on a rail of gilded silver. The 
massive candlesticks, and all the stands and reading-desks are of sil- 
ver, as is also a score of figures, some three feet high, for lamps and 
torches. 

From the front of the altar to the body of the church, in which are placed 
the choir and organ, there is another silver hand-rail and balustrade on 
both sides of the central aisle. The choir is of a dark rich wood, covered 
with the most exquisite carvings, in high relief, of passages in the life of 
our Saviour, and its gates are beautifully inlaid with silver. The seats 
of the clergymen rise above each other in a double row, and in the centre 
stands a massive reading-desk, most gorgeously wrought of the precious 
metal. 

To the left of the altar, a chapel, containing a collection of sacred relics, 
branches off from the main edifice. The whole eastern end of this is a 
blaze of crystal and gilded carvings, piled 'up to the lofty arched roofj 
while on the steps are two tall India jars, that would make in Europe the 
fortune of a china hunter. 

As I left the door of this apartment, I noticed a recently painted pic- 
ture, or rather frame of pictures. It represented a series of miracles 
wrought by the Virgin M'ithin the last ten years. First, a husband had 
stabbed his wife, and yet, by a prayer to the Saint, she was healed : 
Second, a child, who had fallen from a window, was miraculously pre- 
served by her intervention: Third, a woman, passing through a wood, 
encountered a robber, who attempted to force her ; yet, an opportune 
ejaculation to Guadalupe winged her feet, and she escaped: Fourth, 
a man was thrown from his horse, and saved : Fifth, a carriage passed 
over another harmlessly : And Sixth, the Virgin saved a woman from 
being gored by a bull. 

As I passed around the church, I saw a variety of similar mementoes 
hung upon the walls — little pictures of sick women — of others praying- 
silver arms and legs, and even little waxen ones. In one place I noticed 
two braids of hair ; the vow, doubtless of some poor Indian, and perhaps 
her most precious gift. I was told in Mexico, by a person who has seen 
it, that the native Indians at times come to this shrine, and play before 
the Virgin's image on their drums and flageolets. 

As I passed through the door, I encountered a lepero-looking fellow, 
who, on one side, offered me a ticket in the " Lottery of the Virgin," while 
on the other, a servitor of the church held out a stock of red ribbons 
" with the measure of the Virgin's hands," and metal medals of Guada- 
lupe. The latter I thought a better investment than the lottery ; and 
buying one, which I dipped in the blessed well, I keep it as a memento 
of the visit and the spot. 

For the curious in such matters, I give the original of a Sonnet and 
Verses — and the promise of Indulgences, in honor of the Virgin : 



SONNET — INDULGENCES. 



69 



A MARIA SANTISIMA BE GUADALUPE. 



SONETO. 



Ea 



isa GUADALUPANA encantadora, 
Madre del Hombre Dios y tambien mia, 
Baj6 del cielo al Tepeyac un dia 
Para ser nuestra insigne Bienhechora. 

A la presencia de tan Gran Senora 
Fug6 la sanguinaria Idolatria, 
Como la pavorosa Noche humbria 
A los primeros rasgos de la Aurora. 

Al Dios Huitzilopostli destrozaron ; 
Los demiis Idolillos demolieron ; 

Y d, Jescs en sus templos colocaron : 
Los Pueblos d su voz se convirtieron ; 

Y cuanto en la Conquista les quitaron : 
En tres centurias por MARL4 obtu^ieron. 



En tres siglos cuintas cosas 
El tiempo cruel devor6 !.... 
Los montes ; los altos montes 
Mudaron de situacion. 

Solo esa copia divina 
Cual el dia en que se form<5 
Pemianece en un Ayate; 
Como que es obra de Dios. 

A su Madre, Esposa e Hija 
Por si mismo la pint6, 
Dondndola a los Indianos 
En prueba fiel de su ainor. 



Esto ciertamente no hizo 

Con ninguna otra nacion : 
Bendito sea una y mil veces 
Por tan insigne favor. 

D^mosle todos las gracias, 

Y sea la iluminacion, 
Las salvas y los repiques, 

Y los ecos del tambor : 

La prueba de nuestro afecto ; 

Y un indicio de que en nos 
Nunca entibiard el impio 
La pristina devocion. 



Se suplica el adomo e iluminacion en el Novenario ; y se advierte a los fieles queloa 
Illmos. Sres. Obispos de Puebla y Tarazona, concedieron 80 dias de indulgencia en 
cada cuarto de hora en que dichas Imd,genes se espongan ; y por cada Ave Maria que 
se rezare delante de cualquiera de ellas 500 dias : lo mismo se gana diciendo Ave Ma- 
ria, 6 solicitando devotos.=Ultimamente, el Elmo. Sr. D. Fr. Jose Maria de Jesus Be. 
launzaran por si, y los Elmos. Sres. Obispos actuales de Puebla, Michoacan, Jalisco y 
Durango concedi6 200 dias de indulgencia por cada palabra de los devocionarios de la 
Sma. Sra. ; por cada paso que se diere en su obsequio ; por cada una de las reverencias 
que se le hagan ; y por cada palabra de la misa que en su obsequio el sacerdote y los 
oyentes digeren. Otros tantos dias concede por cada cuarto de hora en que se espongan 
las Efigies ea los balcones, ventanas e puertas para la adorac:on ptkblJca. 



LETTER XIII. 



COURT CEREMONIES. GENERAL SANTA ANNA. DIPLOMATIC DINNER. 

For some time after the installation of General Santa Anna as Pro- 
visional President of Mexico, under the system known in the political 
history of that country as the " Plan of Tacubaya,"* a difficulty existed 
between the Government, and Ministers of foreign nations, as to the eti- 
quette which was to be observed on public occasions when it became neces- 
sary for them to meet ceremoniously. To such an extent had this variance 
of established rules been carried, that upon the consecration of the present 
Archbishop, the Envoy from France deemed it proper to mark his disap- 
probation, by retiring with his legation from the Cathedral. 

These matters, which to us republicans seemed of no very great mo- 
ment except as they had been rendered so by the Mexicans themselves, 
were, however, at length satisfactorily arranged ; and on the first of Jan- 
uary, 1842, the members of the different missions were invited to meet 
the President in the morning, for the purpose of exchanging the usual 
courtesies of the day, and to partake of a dinner in the evening. This 
invitation was sent with all due form through his Excellency, Mr. De ' 
Bocanegra, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As the system of entertain- 
ment at table is quite a novelty in Mexican diplomacy, the invitation was 
entirely unexpected ; and it was hailed by the whole corps as indicative of 
an agreeable change in our future intercourse. 

Accordingly at noon on the first of January, the diplomatic body, in 
full uniform, met at the apartments of the Minister of Foreign Relations 
in the Palace. Here again, some trifling question of etiquette was started 
relative to the precedence of the Archbishop, which being arranged, the 
corps, as soon as it had been joined by the Ministers of State, was ush- 
ered to the hall of audience by an aid-de-camp of the President. Passing 

* The revolution of 1841, after several fniitless battles, in which victory seems to have crowned neither side, 
and several as fruitless interviews of tlie Chiefs and messengers of the different parlies, was at length terminated 
by a meeting of commanding officers at Tacubaya on the 28th of September, when a plan was agreed upon aud 
signed by 191 persons, by means of which the existing Constitution of Mexico was superseded. By this system, 
or " Plan of Tacdbaya," consisting of 13 articles, a general amnesty was proclaimed— a call of a new Con- 
gress to form a Constitution agreed upon— and a Junta created, to be named by the General in Chief of the 
Army. The Junta was to elect the Provisional President, who, by the 7th article, was clothed " with all the 
powers necessary to reorganize the nation and all the branches of administration ;" or, in other words, with 
supreme power. That General was Santa Anna. He selected the Junta, and the Junta returned the compli- 
ment by selecting him ! 



AUDIENCE OF THE PRESIDENT. 71 

along several balconies hung against the wall of the inner court-yard, we 
soon reached an antechamber filled with all the chief personages, both 
military and civil, of the Republic, and we were at once conducted 
to the reception-room. This is a large and newly furnished apartment, 
plainly painted in fresco ; its walls are hung with ordinary oil pictures of 
the history of Napoleon, and the floor is covered with a rather common 
carpet. 

At the south end of the rooiri. a Chair of State, with the flags and arms 
of Mexico richly embroidered in gold and colors on its velvet cushions, 
was placed for the President, under a canopy of crimson edged with gold. 
On either side of this, against the wall, .were chairs for the four Ministers, 
and, immediately in front of the President's seat, running the kngth of 
the room, beneath the great chandelier, were ranged two rows of chairs 
facing each other, for the diplomatic corps. Here we took our stand, 
according to the rank and length of residence of the respective Envoys 
in the country. 

In a few moments, the Ministers of State (who had retired after we 
were placed,) entered from a room behind the audience-chamber, and 
were directly followed by General Santa Anna, in the full uniform of the 
Chief of the Army — blue and red, richly embroidered with gold. You 
are aware, that at the battle of Vera Cruz with the French, in the year 
1838, one of his legs was shattered by a cannon-ball, as he pursued the 
enemy on their retreat to their boats. The limb was badly amputated, 
and of course he limps along on a wooden substitute, with the aid of a 
cane. But the defect does not take from the dignity and manliness of his 
air and carriage. 

He advanced to his chair under the canopy ; his Mmisters placed them- 
selves on either side of him, and the room, which had hitherto been only 
occupied by ourselves, was, at a signal to the aid-de-camp in waiting, 
filled with a brilliant cortege of ofiicers in full dress uniforms. 

As soon as silence and order were obtained, the President bowed grace- 
fully to us, and received an obeisance in return. Mr. Pakenham, the 
British Envoy, as the oldest resident Minister, then advanced, and in the 
name of the diplomatic body, made an address of congratulation in Spanish. 

The General listened with attention and interest, and when the Minister 
had concluded, replied briefly, but with considerable hesitation of manner 
and an awkward twisting of his cane and chapeau, showing that he was, 
at least on that occasion, more of the soMier than the speaker. As he 
seated himself after concluding his reply, he motioned us to our chairs, 
while the rest of the spectators still remained standing. A short conver- 
sation then followed between him, Mr. Pakenham, and Mr. Oliver, the 
Spanish Envoy, who were immediately in front of him; and at the first 
pause we rose, advanced to him singly and bowed; walking slowly to the 
door at the north end of the apartment, we turned on its s°ill and bowed 
again, both of the salutations being gracefully returned by him: and thus 
ended txhe morning visit of ceremonious congratulation. 



72 MEXICO. 

I have been so minute in repeating to you the details of this cere- 
mony, not because I deem any account of bows and formal speeches 
interesting to a reader ; but because such a scene has occurred in a 
Repuil/c, before the President of a Republic, and in a National Palace 
surrounded with soldiery, amid the beating of drumsj the braying of trum- 
pets, and all the paraphernalia of a court. Such a detail sounds oddly to 
one wlio — entering a door often opened without a porter — passing through 
no lines of grim guards — amid no military pomp or parade — approaches 
the President of our own more favored land, and finds him seated in his 
plain parlor, by a comfortable grate, habited in neat but homely dress ; 
and ready, without ceremony, to grasp your hand and welcome you to his 
fireside.* 



We left the Palace at one o'clock, and entering our carriage, proceeded 
to pay the customary visits of form to all our friends, on the first of Jan- 
uary. We found numbers of people at home, and left a corresponding 
quantity of cards for those who were engaged in the same duty as our- 
selves. 

It was a pleasure to reach home once more, and to get rid of the stiff uni- 
form in which my limbs had been cased for several hours. Accustomed 
all my life to the plain and easy coat of civil life, and donning gold lace 
that day for the first time, I felt, I suppose, very much the sensations of 
"the hog in armor;" and I was glad after that essay, to find but few 
occasions on which full dress was requisite. 

As the bell tolled for Oracion, Mr. Ellis and myself mounted the car- 
riage once more, and soon reached the Palace. 

In the anteroom, two aids-de-camp of the President met and conducted 
us to the audience-room, now brilliantly lighted with lamps and chande- 
liers. The saloon was sprinkled over with a gay company of officers 
and diplomats in full dress. Santa Anna soon entered from his private 
apartments, and taking a seat near the upper end of the room, his friends 
gathered sociably around him. As soon as all were seated, Mr. Ellis 
presented me privately to him. He took my hand in both of his, and 
with an air of great cordiality and a winning smile, addressed me some 
complimentary words, inviting us to take seats near him. 

The total repose and quietness of the company was precisely what 1 
desired. It afforded me an opportunity to take a sort of mind portrait of 
the Warrior President ; and seated for an hour within the sound of his 
voice, at the distance of a few feet, I had an excellent opportunity to do 
so. His demeanor in conversation is mild, earnest and gentlemanly. 
He uses much gentle gesture as soon as he becomes animated, and seems 
to speak with all his soul, without losing command over himself and his 
feelings. 

I have since seen Santa Anna in his coach, surrounded with guards 
and all the pomp of the military, at the review of 8000 troops ; in church 



SANTA ANNA. 73 

at prayer ; in the ball-room ; in the cock-pit, betting ; in the audience- 
room ; at the banquet ; and in private interviews of delicate diplomacy, 
when the political interests of the two nations were at stake. No one 
can easily forget him ; and I have delayed describing him until now be- 
cause I have been unwilling to deceive myself or others. According to 
public opinion, he is a riddle in character ; he surely is not so in appear. 
ance, and if his person and his manners are not, as with others, to be 
taken as a fair index of the man, he is either an arch-hypocrite, or a 
capital actor. 

In person, General Santa Anna is about six feet high, well made, and 
of graceful bearing, though he stumps along on an old-fashioned wooden 
peg, rejecting, as uncomfortable, all the "mock legs" with patent springs 
and self-moving inventions, which have been presented to him by his flat- 
terers from all parts of the world. His dress, as I have said before, is 
on all public occasions that of a high officer of the army ; and his breast 
is covered with richly-gemmed decorations. 

His brow, shaded with black hair somev/hat sprinkled with gray, is 
by no means lofty, but narrow and smooth. Although his whole head 
is rather small, and perhaps rather too long for its breadth, it has, how- 
ever, a marked and boldly-defined outline, indicating talent and resolu- 
tion. His nose is straight and well shaped, and his brows knit in a line 
over close and brilliant eyes, Avhich are said to flash with fire when 
aroused to passion. His complexion is dark and sallow, and his temper- 
ament evidently bilious. His mouth is the most remarkable feature. Its 
pron:iinent expression, when at rest, is that of mingled pain and anxiety. In 
perfect repose, you would think him looking on a dying friend, with whose 
sufferings he was deeply but helplessly sympathizing. His head and face 
are those of an attentive, thoughtful, melancholy but determined character. 
There is no ferocity, vindictiveness, or ill-temper in his expression ; and 
when his countenance is lighted up by pleasant conversation, in which he 
appears to enter eagerly though with a timid and subdued voice ; and when 
he puts on a sweetly wooing smile, which seems too tranquil ever to ripen 
into a laugh; you feel that you have before you a man. who would be 
singled from a thousand for his quiet refinement and serious temper ; one 
who would at once command your sympathy and your respect ; a well- 
bred gentleman, and a resolute soldier, who can win by the solicitation 
of an insinuating address, or rule by the authority of an imperious spirit. 
Such is a portrait of the man who, since the outbreak of the IMexican 
Revolution, has played a chief part in the drama of the time, and has 
fought and forced his way to eminence from the humblest rank. The 
destroyer and builder up of many systems and men, he has not always 
been on the side of republicanism, according to the liberal and enlight- 
ened notions of the North ; but it is sincerely to be hoped, that he is too 
deeply pledged as an old soldier and brave fightei in the cause of liberty, 
now to shrink back into the folly of despotism. 



74 MEXICO. 

While the hour passed in which I sat looking at and listening to this re- 
markable person, the company in the saloon gradually thickened. Here 
a newly made Colonel, the child of the new revolution, in as new and 
bright a uniform ; there a veteran General, in the time-stained dress, 
tarnished trappings, and old cut coat of the ancient regime. Here a knot 
of European diplomatists, blazing with their stars ; and there the old 
Archbishop, with his venerable gray locks falling on his violet robes, while 
another dignitary of the church stood by him in velvet and lace, with a 
. cross of large diamonds and topazes hung round his priestly throat by a 
collar of gems, and " ever and anon " taking snuff, in a manner that dis- 
played a finger which almost blinded by the flash of its diamonds. The 
dress of every person in the room, in fact, was rich and tasteful, except 
that of one distinguished citizen of Mexico, and a priest in attendance on 
the Archbishop — who adhered, amid all the show, to humble and respect- 
able black. 

After an hour's delay, which added to the sharpness of our poorly stayed 
appetites, dinner was announced. Santa Anna led the way, and in the 
dining-room we found our places indicated by cards on the soup-plates. 

The table-service was tolerably good, although there was no such dis- 
play either of silver, porcelain, or cut-glass, as we see on hundreds of less 
courtly tables in the North ; nor were there any " gold spoons " for Con- 
gressmen to cavil with. The cookery (French and English,) was capital, 
and the courses innumerable.* The wines and the conversation went off 
with spirit ; and, indeed, the whole entertainment was most agreeable, 
except, that during the repast six of the President'' s aids-de-camp stood he- 
kind his chair. Their position was, I feel confident, most painful, (at least 
to all the foreigners;) and although they performed no menial offices, 
yet the act was inelegant, unrepublican, unnecessary, and in excessively 
bad taste. I hope never again to be forced to witness such a scene, nor 
to sit at table while such men stand. 

Thus passed two hours and a half, enlivened by the military bands of 
the Palace, playing gay airs with remarkable taste and skill in the pauses. 
Near ten we all retired (without the universal cigar) to the reception-room, 
where tea and coffee were handed before we departed. 

As we passed the windows of the dining-room, we saw the aids-de-camp 
at dinner in our lately deserted places ; and I sincerely trust as they had 
so long but feasted on the fumes of our earlier dinner, that they had 
something more substantial than the cold and broken remains of our 
splendid repast. 

In the palace yard below, hundreds of soldiers were lolling drowsily 
on the stone seats, or bundled up in their blankets stretched on the pave- 
ment within the gateways ; and as we left the portal, the band in the 
balconies above sent over the still square the parting strains of its beau- 
tiful music. 

♦This entertainment was prepared by a celebrated French cook in Mexico, who charged the modeiate sum 
of S^ a head for forty persons, exclusive of the wines. 



AUTOGRAPHS. 



75 



I made several efforts while in Mexico, to procure a portrait of General 
Santa Anna for the purpose of presenting it to you ; but I could find no 
engraving or lithograph, and the oil pictures were most wretchedly exe- 
cuted, without doing justice to his very characteristic face. In this age of 
autographs, however, when all persons collect, and some few even under- 
take to read a man's mind in his signature ; I have thought that those of 
the President and of the late Emperor Iturbide, might not be uninteresting, 
and I therefore subjoin them. That of Santa Anna is a firm, clear, and 
distinct one ; while Iturbide's, though strong and decided enough in its 
lines, has still a straggling manner, which indicates perhaps too much 
the weakness of manj parts of that hero's character. 



i^-tcjc , yy^- 



V 




^j-^-^A ^!^cu.^ 









LETTER XIV. 

ST. AUGUSTIN DE LAS CTJEVAS, AND THE FEAST OF SAN AUGUSTIN. JAM- 
BLING AND COCK-FIGHTING. 

San Augitstin is one of the most charming villages in the neighborhood 
of Mexico. It lies, like most of the other villages, at the foot of the 
mountain's, south of the city, and is reached by a level road about tvs^elve 
miles long, leading through some of the most beautiful farms in the Val- 
ley. Here, not only are immense herds of cattle grazed and large quan- 
tities of grain cultivated, but you see extensive plantations of the maguey 
aloe, or Agave Americana, from which the favorite drink of the natives 
is made, in the valleys of Puebla and Mexico.* 

When the plant reaches the age of seven years, it is usually ready 
to bloom. Upon the appearance of the first symptoms of a bud, the centre 
stalk is cut out, and a bowl hollowed in the middle of the large leaves ; 
into this, for several days, the juice of the plant exudes plentifully ; and 
as the bowl fills at certain periods during the day, it is sucked into a long 
gourd by the Indian laborers, who transfer it from this to hog-skins. In 
these it is taken to the haciendas, slightly fermented in large vats lined 
with bull-hides, whence it is again transferred to skins, and so carried 
to the city or the shops and sold. It is really amusing, thus to behold 
the skin of a stout porker injected with the heady liquid — his legs stick- 
ing out, and even the remnant of his tail twisting with its wonted curve ! 

The cultivation of the maguey is one of the most profitable in tiie Val- 
ley ; the outlay is calculated generally at about two dollars per plant, 
and the return is from seven to ten, according to the size of it. I cannot 
say that the flavor is pleasant, though it varies greatly in diflerent parts 
of the country. I have tasted some in Mexico that had been sent as a 
present from a hacienda near Puebla, which was delicious ; but the ordi- 
nary liquid sold in the shops, seemed to me very like sour lemonade 
improved by the addition of cream-of-tartar. It was like the famous wine 
of one of the vallies that pours its stream into the Rhine, with which the 
old women of that neighborhood darn their stockings. One drop, it is 
said, put on any ordinary hole, draws it up for ever and securely like a 
purse-string ! 

*This plant is one of the most useful in Mexico. It makes an excellent fence while it is growing ■ after it 
arrives at perfection, pulque is extracted from its stalk : the leaves are then either cut up as food for animals, oi 
ate manufactured inte rope, twine, coarse Indian cloth, or wrapping-paper of unecualled tougluiess 



GAMBLING. 77 

The road to St. Augustin is remarkably insecure from robbers ; many- 
persons have been attacked, and there are still several suspicious spots 
where the rascals are supposed to hover on the watch. I therefore never 
ventured out except with a large company, or on days when some public 
amusement was likely to fill the country with strangers. 

The 16th of May is set down in the cafendar as the day of the year 
dedicated to St. Augustin, and this village is appropriated by the Mexi- 
cans to the celebration of his festival. Yet, unlike most other festivals, 
this one appears to have little or nothing to do, either with religion or the 
saint, unless they have a version of his story unknown to other nations. 

As on the occasion of the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the road 
was filled, after daylight, with passengers in coaches, on horseback, 
in diligences, and even on foot. This is a frolic, chiefly for the great, 
the wealthy and the fashionable, (as those of Los Remedies and the Vir- 
gin, are for the mass of the people,) and gambling is the chief bait and 
attraction. 

The square in the centre of the village was fitted up with temporary 
booths, and devoted to all sorts of festivity, play and music, for the lower 
classes, while many of the adjoining dwellings were adorned in magnifi- 
cent style for the upper ranks who sported nothing but gold and silver. 

Indeed, a chance is offered to all upon this occasion. Every man who 
has anything to lose, or the hope of winning, has the opportunity pre- 
sented. There is no lack of temptation. 

First, there are the humblest booths in the square where small sums 
of copper alone are played; next, there are others where copper and 
reals, or medios, are permitted ; next, those for copper and dollars ; then 
roulette, for all stakers ; then banks of silver alone ; then banks of silver 
and gold ; and lastly, banks where nothing but gold, and that usually in 
doubloons, is ever ventured. You thus perceive, that the opportunity is 
liberally presented for every man's purse to become " small by degrees 
and beautifully less." 

It is estimated that 25,000 doubloons or $400,000, are annually placed 
in these banks, and, as at least half that sum is brought on the ground 
to bet against them, the amount of money lost and won is enormous. 
This year all the banks lost except one, and its owners were exceedingly 
dissatisfied because their winnings, during the three days of the festival, 
amounted to only 25 per cent. ; yet you will imagine how great must 
have been their gains, when this very bank had at one time lost near two 
thousand doubloons/ 

The saloons where gold is played are most tastefully fitted up in cool 
and airy situations. A long table, covered with green cloth, is placed in 
the centre, and in the middle of this lie the shining heaps, rolls, and 
piles of gold. Around, sit the patient and silent players. You do not 
see, as in France, the iron lip, frowning brow, pale visage, and clenched 
hand — indicative of anxiety, remorse, and the lust of greedy gain. The 



78 MEXICO. 

Spaniard takes it with the noncJialance of eastern fatalism. Nothing dis- 
concerts, disturbs, or forces him to utter an exclamation of pleasure or a 
sigh of pain — but he sits in stoic silence receiving his ounces, if he win, 
without eagerness, or seeing them swell the bank without sorrow, if he 
lose. 

The game of 7nont6 has become part of the very nature of the inhabit- 
ants of Southern America. Accustomed in the olden times under the 
Colonial Government, to immense wealth, " wealth (as the old people 
describe it,) in which they literally swam," gold lost its value and be- 
came but a counter, by means of which they passed their idle hours in 
an agreeable excitement that never ruffled or elated them. This habit- 
ual regard for the game has descended from sire to son, and the keeping 
of a table, or its ownership, is not esteemed disreputable, as in other 
countries. On the contrary, the largest sums are avowedly furnished 
by most respectable bankers, and the sport is held to be a species of 
legitimate trade. 

Yet, great is the distress produced in Mexico by gambling. While a 
hundred establishments are opened in St. Augustin for three days, there 
are not less than huiidreds, in the city of Mexico, open daily during the 
whole year ! The consequence is, that although the wealthiest and bold- 
est betters, who venture their 200, 400, or even 1000 doubloons on a sin- 
gle card at St. Augustin, play only there, or but once or twice a year, 
yet the constant drain on the small gamblers is kept up day after day 
and night after night in the Capital. Is it to be wondered then, amid a 
nation of such habits — so prodigal, proud, and easily ruined, that persons 
who venture and lose their all on a single stake, or habitually live by 
the risks of fortune, betake themselves at last to the road, and rob with 
the pistol instead of the cards ? Both are short cuts to fortune or the 
gallows. 

We adjourned, at two o'clock, from the gambling-houses to the Cock-Pit. 
The President, General Santa Anna, and General Bravo, with their suites, 
occupied one of the centre boxes of the theatre, while the rest were filled 
with the beauty and fashion of Mexico. It is the vogue for women of 
family and respectability to attend these festivals, their great object being 
to outshine each other in the splendor and variety of their garments. The 
rage is to have one dress for mass at ten o'clock, one for the cock-pit, 
another for the ball at the Calvario, and a fourth for the ball in the 
evening. These again must be different on each succeeding day of the 
festival f 

The cocks were brought into the centre of the pit within the ring, the 
President's fowls being generally those first put on the earth. They were 
then thrown off for a spring at each other, and taken up again before the 
betting began. Brokers went round, proclaiming the amount placed in 
their hands to bet on any particular fowl. Whenever a bet was offered 



THE COCK-PIT. 79 

against Santa Anna's bird, the broker was called to his box and an aid- 
de-camp covered it. Besides these bets, the General usually had some 
standing ones agreed on beforehand with the owners of other cocks ; and 
in this manner five or six thousand dollars were lost or won by him in 
the pit daily. Seven mains of cocks were fought each day — the Presi- 
dent seeming to relish the sport vastly, while his aids were highly ex- 
ited, and the ladies looked on with evident gusto. 

Nothing can be more grossly mean than a passion for cock fighting. 
A bull fight, brutal and bloody as it is, has still something noble in the 
contest between the man and the animal ; there is a trial of skill, and 
often a trial for life. Horse racing is a beautiful sport, it is both exciting 
and useful ; and the breed of a noble animal is cherished and improved by 
it. But to see grown men, and among them the chiefs of a nation, sit 
down quietly to watch two birds kick each other to death with slashers and 
spurs, in order to make money out of the victory of one of them, is too 
contemptible to be sanctioned or apologized for in any way, except by 
old traditionary customs. Such were the old customs of Mexico. Their 
fathers gambled — they gamble. Their fathers fought fowls — they fight 
fowls ; and if you speak to them of it, they shrug their shoulders, with a 
^' pues que .?" — " what will you ?" 

It is with pleasure, however, that I record one pleasant scene at least 
in this festival of St. Augustin. On the second day I did not go out early 
in the morning, but took a place in the diligence at half-past two p. m., 
reaching the village in a couple of hours. Disgusted with the gambling 
scenes and the cock-pit, I went only to see the Calvario, or ball given 
every afternoon at the Calvary, which adjoins the village on the west. 

We walked to this spot through beautiful lanes of Oriental-looking 
houses, bowered among groves of orange and jasmine, and arrived about 
six o'clock. As the people were just assembling we strolled up the 
green hills, traversed by streams of crystal water, until we reached an 
eminence above the village, bosomed in an eternal shade, from which 
peeped out the white walls of the houses and azoteas, covered with the 
most beautiful and fragrant flowers. Across the valley, the eye rested 
on the silvery line of Tezcoco, and as the slanting rays of the sun fell 
over the soft midland-view, and athwart the hills through the gaps of the 
western mountains, lighting the ravines, and throwing the bold peaks in 
shadow, I thought I had never beheld a more perfect picture drawn from 
fancy of the peace and beauty of a " Happy Valley." It was soon en- 
livened by figures, and became a scene worthy of the fairy fancy of 
Watteau. 

From the top of Calvary, the hill-side sloped down amphitheatrically 
to a level meadow, a bow-shot in width, closed on the east and west by 
trees in their freshest foliage, and terminated at the north by a garden and 
azotea just peeping over the leaves of an orange grove. On the side of 



80 MEXICO. 

the hill, seats had been placed for ladies, which were speedily filled by 
them attired in full dress for the evening. The fine military band of ihe 
garrison struck up directly in the centre of the sward, and in a moment 
the dancers were on foot. Galopades, waltzes, cotillons, Spanish dances 

succeeded each other rapidly. It was difficult to say which was the 

more beautiful display*— tha* cf Mexican beau'.y tripping it with gay cava- 
lier " to music on the green," or that of Mexican beauty lining the hill- 
side, and watching the festive scene with its pensive gaze. 

The dance continued until tAvilight, when the crowd moved olT to town, 
in carriages and on foot. In a moment all was bustle, and as I gained the 
road, I was a little astonished to see the hosts of beggars who were there 
to meet the returning mass of roystering lads, and gleesome fair ones. 
Nor were these, alone, the beggars of St. Augustin — the city had poured 
out its complement ; all my well-known acquaintances were present, 
anxious to pick up the "crumbs from the rich man's table," and, for ought 
I know, to venture some of them slyly in the booths of the square. As 
this tide of joyous life swept home, I could not help noticing one of these 
wretches, who threw himself actually in the pathway of the returning 
multitude, and rolled along the road in such a manner that it became im- 
possible to pass without treading on or over him. It was the old howling 
beggar of the Alameda : kicks, cuffs, stumbles availed nothing ; still he 
rolled, and still he howled. 

Such is the contrast presented continually between enormous wealth; 
and squalid misery in the Republic of Mexico ! 



LETTER XV. 



IJEVOLUTION. WAX-FIGUKES. VISIT TO THE MTTSEUM. ANTIQUITIES. 

It was just after the conclusion of the Revolution of 1841, which re- 
sulted in placing General Santa Anna at the head of the Government, 
that I arrived in the city of Mexico, and found the marks of the struggle 
that took place on that memorable occasion, yet visible in the streets. 
For a month the city had been in a state of siege ; General Bustamante, 
the Constitutional President, occupying the National Palace, and holding 
possession of portions of the town with his troops, while General Valencia 
controlled the citadel, from which he cannonaded and threw shells into the 
city. During all this time the work of slaughter went on ; but the chief 
injury was inflicted on harmless non-combatants, who happened at times 
to pass exposed places, or to cross streets which were raked by the artil- 
lery. Numbers of poor laborers, and laborers' wives, bringing them food, 
were thus destroyed ; and during the whole of the period I remained in 
the Capital, the scars and indentations made by the balls and bullets 
in the walls of the Calle Refugio, were never repaired. From the tops of 
houses, too, death was dealt by the insurgents. Screening themselves 
behind the parapet walls of azoteas, and frequently in church-towers, they 
shot down, indiscriminately, all who passed, and made the sureness of 
aim a matter of boast and joke. In the Revolution or ^meute of the pre- 
vious year. General Valencia had thus well nigh fallen victim to some 
reckless marksman. As he passed along one of the streets, at the head 
of his troops — at a moment, too, when no attack was meditated — a solitary 
rifleman sent a ball from a steeple through his chapeau. The General 
keeps the hat as a sort of military trophy. 

Upon the azotea of the house occupied by the Prussian Charge d'Affaires, 
a man was slain early one morning, by a shot from the azotea of the op- 
posite convent of the Profesa ; yet, so incessant was the firing, that the 
family was prevented from coming to his succor or removing the body for 
several hours. 

Thus did that fearful struggle degenerate into murder within the city 
walls, while the horrors of civil war were enhanced by a bombardment 
and cannonade from the citadel, under a commander who, until within a 
few days, had enjoyed the highest confidence of the Constitutional Gov. 
ernment. 

It is sincerely to be hoped, that the lesson taught at this epoch has dis- 
gusted the nation with these bloody turmoils. There appears among the 



82 



MEXICO. 



peuplo a general desire for peace ; and the wise, just, and thoughtful 
of all parties, can surely agree upon some plan to satisfy the common 
interests, to quell the inordinate passions of military chieftains, and, in 
fine, to terminate for ever these dreadful scenes. In treating hereafter of 
the political condition of Mexico, I shall have occasion to refer again to 
this subject, and shall then do so more fully. 

These ideas struck me as I went for the first time to the University, 
and saw even the front of that edifice, which should naturally be sacred 
to learning and peace, pierced with cannon balls and bullets. The walls 
only, 1 believe, were injured. Indeed, from the appearance of the houses 
throughout the city, I am inclined to think that the Mexicans were either 
exceedingly bad marksmen, or, that they aimed high, if they aimed at 
all, to prevent carnage. The plaster and stones, and the poor non-combat- 
ants were evidently the greatest sufferers, while the soldiers seem to have 
had an amiable compassion for each other ! 

The University is a fine old monastic building, erected around a court- 
yard of large dimensions, in the centre of which is now placed the colos- 
sal bronze statue of Charles IV. cast in the city of Mexico by Tolsa, a 
Mexican artist. This really beautiful work formerly stood in the great 
square fronting the Cathedral, where its huge mass was more in proportion 
to the surrounding space and objects. 




STATUE OF CHARLES IV. 



MEXICANARTISTS. 83 

The statue is Equestrian. The monarch is represented in Roman cos- 
tume, his brow bound with a wreath of laurel, and in the act of curb- 
ing his horse with his left hand, while his right extends a truncheon. 
An antique sword rests on his thigh, and an imperial robe flows in easy 
folds from his shoulders covering the haunches of the horse, who is mov- 
ing forward, and trampling on a quiver of arrows. The face of Charles 
was not remarkable for dignity or command, so that, in order to preserve 
the resemblance, the artist has been obliged to throw all the power of 
his work into the figure. But the result has been a statue of great ma- 
jesty, and worthy of the most judicious praise. Although the model 
of the horse is certainly good, and the dimensions well preserved in the 
colossal size, yet it is quite evident that the artist had only {he Mexican 
animal in his mind's eye when he moulded his masterpiece. The chief 
defects, as well as I was able to judge in its present unfavorable position, 
were disproportions in the neck and haunches ; the former being entirely 
too thick and large, while the latter are too heavy and small, both for 
the legs of the animal and the figure they support. The drapery of the 
sovereign, the saddle-cloth, sword, bridle, a Medusa head on the mar- 
tingale, and all the accessories, are admirably finished in the highest 
style of art. One of the most severe and tasteful critics who ever saw 
itj compares this work of the native Mexican with the famous statue of 
Marcus Aurelius at Rome, which has so frequently been the theme of 
praise by the most learned sculptors of the Old World. 

Indeed, the art of imitating nature in statuary, is a talent perhaps no- 
where more common than in Mexico. I do not mean by this, that fine 
sculpture is common there ; but I know of few places where there is 
more talent to produce it. 

The moment a stranger arrives in Mexico he is besieged by a host of 
wax-figure makers, with small statues of the costumes and trades of the 
country. These, it is true, are cast in moulds, but the talent is not the 
less remarkable. They are admirably executed. Dress, feature, de- 
meanor, action, are all caught and faithfully depicted to the very life, 
and no collection can be more worthily adorned than by a series of these 
figures. You can obtain them of any size, or any subject ; and although 
the materials are frail, they may be safely transported from the Capital 
to the coast. If these statuettes are wonderful, their makers are not less 
so. You would be astonished to see the artist, who produces a gem of a 
figure which in Europe would command a couple of doubloons. A little 
room up two pairs of ricketty stairs, just large enough to turn in, where 
his wife cooks and sleeps with two or three children in one corner; while 
he, with his lump of wax and his portable furnace, stands working, mould- 
ing and dressing his figures in another. Such is the atelier, while the 
man himself, is scarcely distinguishable from the commonest Uperos. 



84 MEXICO. 

Until recently, there were in the city of Puebla two sisters, remarkable 
for the manufacture o^ figures from rags. These ladies were of respect- 
able birth, and always commanded a ready sale for their works, which 
were sought for even in Europe. They moulded the figures of lumps 
of beeswax, covered the different parts of the body with cotton cloth of 
colors suited to the complexion, and, while the wax was yet soft, moulded 
the features into the required expression, completing the representation 
with appropriate dresses. I have two of these in my possession, which, 
in point of character, are worthy of the pencil of Teniers. They repre- 
sent an old Indian woman, scolding and weeping over her drunken son. 
The grief and age of the one, and the tipsy leer, roll of the head, and 
want of command over the limbs of the other, are rendered with indes- 
cribable faithfulness. One of these remarkable artists died while I was 
in Mexico, and the other is extremely old and feeble, so that it has now 
become a matter of great difficulty to obtain a specimen of her works ; 
nor can they hereafter be as perfect as formerly, as the sister who died 
was remarkable for her perfection in forming the figures, while the 
greater talent of finishing and giving expression, was the task of the sur- 
vivor. Both duties now devolve on her, and what with age and the loss 
of her companion, her hand seems to have lost much of its cunning. 



But let us retrace our way to the Museum. 

Turning from the statue of Charles IV. in the centre of the court-yard, 
to the left-hand side of the quadrangle, you observe the arcades at that 
end covered with panels of wood, ten or fifteen feet high, and apparently 
filled with boxes, old bookcases, old stones, and a quantity of lumber. A 
real to the porter will, however, admit you to the inclosure, and you will 
be surprised to find amid that mass of filth, dirt, and refuse furniture, 
relics of antiquity for which thousands would be gladly paid by the Brit- 
ish Museum, the Louvre, the Glyptotheca of Munich, or, indeed, by any 
enlightened Sovereign, who possessed the taste to acquire and the money 
to purchase. 

You see a mimic tree, with a stuffed bear climbing up it; a bleached 
and hairless tiger-skin dangling from the ceiling ; half-a-dozen Indian 
dresses made of snake-skins, fluttering on the wall ; and, amid all this 
confusion, towers aloft the grand and hideous Indian idol of Teoyaomi- 
Qui; the great Stone of Sacrifice, (with a stone cross now erected in the 
middle to sanctify it;) the celebrated statue of the Indio Teiste, not long 
since disinterred ; a colossal head of serpentine, in the Egyptian style of 
sculpture ; the two carvings of the Feathered Serpents, already described 
in my letter on Cholula ; while, on the benches around the walls, and scat- 
tered over the floor, are numberless figures of dogs, monkeys, lizards, 



INDIAN IDOLS 



85 



birds, serpents, all in seemingly inextricable confusion and utter neg. 
lect. 

As you enter the gate of the inclosure, the stone that first strikes your 
view is represented in the following sketch. 




It is a huge mass of serpentine, a stone now rarely found in the Re- 
public. This curious head* was discovered in the year 1837, in the 
street of St. Teresa, on the site of an old Indian Palace, the tradition of 
which records it to have been the residence of Montezuma's father. It is 
a yard broad and twenty-nine inches high. The carving is admirably well 
executed, and strangers are struck with the strong resemblance it bears, 
both in its massiveness and demure style, to the statues of ancient Egypt. 
Bustamante, one of the most learned of the modern antiquarians of Mex- 
ico, asserts it to be the god of Baths. Gondra, the director of the Na- 
tional Museum, on the other hand, alleges it to be the god of Night — ^the 
half shut eyes, and sealed mouth, bearing him out in his. hypothesis. 

Next to this are the " Sacrificial Stone," and the idol " Teoyaomiqui," 
of which I shall treat in a separate letter. Beyond them k the following 
curious figure, 

* Sometimes called " CenteotI," gometiinei " Temozcalteoi." 



66 



MEXICO, 




found en the Hill of Tezcosingo, near the town of Tezcoco, on the eastern 
side of the lake. The Indians from that portion of the country say that 
it represents the God of Silence. The mouth, where the lines in the cut 
mark a square, is painted red on the statue, but Mr. Gondra believes that 
the color was added by the Indian who discovered it. Next to this is 




PERRO MUDO 



INDIAN IDOLS. 



81 



a figure of the Peero Mudo — or dumb dog. This carving was also 
found in the Calle de St. Teresa, and was doubtless an Indian idol. 
Silent dogs, were said to have been plentiful at the period of the Spanish 
conquest ; and, although they have been destroyed for food, in the south- 
ern and middle parts of Mexico, they are still found, it is alleged, among 
the Apache Indians. The figure is of basalt, like the god of Silence, 
and is one foot and ten inches high. 

By the side of the " Perro Mudo," on the bench against the wall, is an 
Indian Mortar ; 




the edge of the bowl is surrounded, as you perceive, by the figure of a 
coiled serpent, exquisitely carved in basalt. Next to this is a head, also 
beautifully cut in the same material. 




88 



MEXICO 



1 was unable to find any one who could explain its signification, or 
inform me of the place where it was discovered. 

But of all the figures within this inclosure, none struck me so much ax 
that of the Indio Triste — or "Sad Indian." 




This remarkable statue was discovered behind the Palace, beneath the 
street which now bears its name. It is three feet four inches high, and 
two feet broad, and was disinterred in the year 1828. It is rather the 
figure of a surly, than a sad Indian. His brows are drawn together with 
anger. His eyes are wide and glaring. His tongue is slightly protruded 
from the mouth. Around his neck is a cape of feathers, and his feet are 
sandalled. His hands are joined by the points of the fingers, and an 
aperture is thus left to insert a staff or pole — ;the bottom of which evidently 
rested in a socket cut in the base of the statue, between the feet, as indi- 
cated in the engraving. This figure was probably set on the wall, or at 
the portal of some edifice, and in his hand was erected a banner or in- 
signia of command. There is a fixed, stony gaze of imperturbable sur- 
liness and impudence in the face, which always struck me as making it 
one of the most characteristic remains in the Museum. 

Although there is ample material around me for further illustration 
of the curious idolatry of the ancient Indians, I will not trouble you with 
more sketches at present, and conclude this part of my description of 
the Museum by simply saying, that the remainder of the idols are chiefly 
images of dogs, monkeys, lizards, and rabbits— the proportions of whiob 



INDIAN IDOLS. 89 

are greatly exaggerated, so as to make them deformed and hideous. If 
their worship was a worship of pure propitiation, they seem to have 
adopted the idea of the Chinese, and prayed rather to the Evil principle 
of things than to the Good. "God is too good," said a Chinese fo me 
once — " God is too good to hurt us, but Ki — ^the Devil — will ; I therefore 
pray to the devil to let me alone !" 

It may be readily imagined that people, in the dawn of religious ideas, 
will personify every ill that assails them under the shape in which it 
becomes most annoying. They imagine when they are assailed by ser- 
pents, that the Evil principle vexes them in that form ; when their houses 
are overrun with lizards, that the demon has attacked them in another 
shape ; and thus, according to their simple reasoning, it was wise to mani- 
fest their ideas of this wicked Spirit in statues of the disguises he had 
himself selected, and under those forms to appease him by worship 
and offerings. It is by imagining a system of this nature, that we can 
alone account for the extraordinary and fanciful creations of Mexican 
art which have been preserved until our day and generation. 



LETTER XVI. 



THE MUSEUM AND ITS ANTIQUITIES, CONTINUED. 

Ascending by a broad flight of steps at the eastern end of the court- 
yard, you reach the second story of the University building, in which are 
liie National Museum and the halls appropriated to students. On the 
ground floor, are a rather shabby and neglected chapel and the college- 
hall or recitation- room, the latter of which reminded me of some of the 
fine monastic chambers of the Old World, with their high ceilings, lofty 
windows, dark walls, cai'ved pulpit, and oaken seats, brown with the hues 
of venerable age. 

On the wall at the end of the first flight, as you ascend to the upper 
story, there is a huge picture, which covers the whole back of the build- 
ing. It represents a court ceremony of the time of Charles IV. ; and 
from the ugliness of the faces, and the characteristic mien of all the 
figures, there can be no doubt that it is a faithful representation, both of 
the persons and costume of the period depicted. 

The first room you enter on your right, is a large hall which, like 
everything public I have yet seen in this Republic, is neglected and lum- 
bered. Around the cornice hangs a row of the portraits of the Viceroys, 
in the stiff and formal guise of their several periods. Some are in mili- 
tary costume, some in monkish, some in civil, and some in the out- 
landish frills, furbelows and finery of the last century ; but whether it be 
of wisdom, or of wickedness, nature has invariably stamped a decided 
character on every head. 

In one corner of this apartment stand the remains of a throne, deposited 
among the rubbish as no longer valuable in a Republic. Near it, how- 
ever, and in strange -contrast, is placed the incomplete basso-relievo of a 
trophy of liberty ; and above this, against the wall, in a rude coflSn of 
rough pine boards, hangs a mummy, dug up not long ago on the fields 
of Tlaltelolco north of the city. 

Yet this room is not altogether destitute of interest, if you can induce 
the keeper to open the shutters. The light then falls upon portraits of. 
Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the hall, which are worthy of the 
pencil of Velasquez. 

Passing to the adjoining sala, we enter the Museum of Mexican Anti- 



NATIONAL MUSEUM. 01 

quities, and odd, indeed, is the jumble of fragments of the past and pres- 
ent that bursts upon your view. 

In the centre of the room is a Castle and Fortification, made of wood aitd 
straw, with mimic guns and all the array of military power. This was 
the work of a poor prisoner— the labor of years of solitude and misery. 

To the left is a numismatic cabinet, tolerably rich in Spanish speci- 
mens and in a collection of Roman coins, which promises, under the 
care of Mr. Gondra, to become exceedingly rare and valuable. Next, 
there is a small library of manuscripts of the early missionaries in Mexico ; 
volumes of their sermons, poems, and records of marriages, births and 
baptisms soon after the conquest. It is astonishing to see how many took 
the name of Hernando Cortez. Next to this, again, is another case con- 
taining (among all sorts of antiquated gimcrackery,) some beautiful spe- 
cimens of the rag and wax-work, which I described in a former letter. 
In a corner hard by, covered with dust, lie the original drawings of 
Palenque and the volumes of Lord Kingsborough's Mexico, presented to 
this Museum by that munificent antiquarian. They are rarely looked 
at, except by some foreign traveller who happens to straggle into the 
Museum. 

The rest of the collection is valuable. In the adjoining cases are all 
the smaller Mexican Antiquities, which have been gathered together by 
the labor of many years, and arranged with some attention to system. 
In one department you find the hatchets used by the Indians ; the orna- 
ments of beads of obsidian and stone worn round their necks ; the mir- 
rors of obsidian ; the masks of the same material, which they hung at 
different seasons before the faces of their idols ; their bows and arrows 
and arrow-heads of obsidian, some of them so small and beautifully cut, 
that the smallest bird might be killed without injuring the plumage. 

In another department are the smaller idols of the ancient Indians, in 
clay and stone, specimens of which, together with the small domestic 
ALTARS and vases for burning incense, are exhibited in the following 
drawings: 





92 



MEXICO 




NATIONALMUSEUM. gg 

Many of these figures were doubtless worn suspended around the neck, 
i)r hung on the walls of houses, as several are pierced with holes, through 
which cords have evidently been passed. 

In the next case is a collection of Mexican Vases and Cups, most of 
which were discovered about the year 1827, in subterranean chambers, 
in the Island of Sacrificios. 





04 



MEXICO. 






NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



m 









eo 



MEXICO 



It is well known to all who have read the history of Mexico, that at the 
period of the conquest by Cortez, this Island was a spot sacred to sepultura 
and sacrifice. 

Owing to the inertness of the Mexican Government, no thorough explo- 
ration has as yet been made, but it has been left to the enterprise of 
commanders of vessels, and especially of vessels of war, who, taking 
advantage of their detention at anchor under the lee of the island, have 
rummaged the sands in search of Indian remains, which have been car- 
ried to other lands, and are thus for ever lost to Mexico. 

In 1841, Monsieur Dumanoir, who commanded the French corvette 
Ceres, undertook to explore the island. In the centre of it he discovered 
sepulchres, the bones in which were in admirable preservation ; vases of 
clay, adorned with paintings and engraved ; arms, idols, collars, bracelets, 
teeth of dogs and tigers, and a variety of architectural designs. In one 
place he found a vase of white marhle ; and in the Museum at Mexico 
there is now preserved another, also found at Sacrificios, of which the 
following is the classic shape and adornment : 




I give the form of another vase found in this island, which, though nei- 
ther beautiful nor classical as the one above represented, is remarkable 
for the oddness of its outline. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



97 




This vessel is also made of a white transparent marble. 



In a neighboring cabinet is seen a curious little figure, carved in ser- 
pentine. It appears to have been a charm or talisman, and in many 
respects resembles the bronze figures which were found at Pompeii, 
and are preserved in the Secret Museum at Naples. This relic was 
discovered at St. lago Tlaltelolco, immediately north of the city of Mexico ; 
but the design appears to me too indelicate to be inserted in a work in- 
tended for general readers. It struck me as resembling the images used 
of old in the worship of Isis, and if it does not serve as a link in the sup- 
posed connection between the Egyptians and the Mexicans, it certainly 
exhibits as great a disregard for decency as characterized the great 
" mother of ancient art and civilization." 

The figures Nos. 1 and 2, on the next page, are drawings of two Indian 
Axes or Hatchets, of stone, the first of which was discovered in Baltimore 
County, State of Maryland, and the second near St. Louis Potosi, in 
Mexico/ I have contrasted them, as singularly alike in shape and 



98 MEXICO. 

material, both being grooved near the top for the purpose of fitting into a 
handle ; — yet at what a distance from each other were they found !* 





The next cut represents a couple of Indian Pipes, the larger one of 
which is finely glazed with red. 





* Axes of this shape and material have been found in many of our States. For an interesting notice .f 
them, vide Bellsnap's History of New Hampshire, vol. 3rd, p. 89. " The hatchet," says this writer, " is a hard 
stone, eight or ten inches in length and three or four in breadth, of an oval form, flatted and rubbed to an edge 
at one end ; near the other is a groove, in which tlie handle was fastened, and their process to do it was this: 
When tl'e stone was prepared, they chose a very young sapling, and splitting it near the ground, they forced the 
hatchet Mto il as far as the groove, and left nature to complete the work by the growth of the wood, so as to fill 
the groovt and adhere firmly to the stone. They then cut oif the sapling above and below, and the hatchet is 
fit for use. ' 



N A T I N A L M U S E U M . Q]^ 

At the western end of this room are several models of Mines, chiefly- 
made of the different stones found in the mineral regions of Mexico. The 
figures are of silver ; and the various parts of the mine, the mode of ob- 
taining the ore, of freeing them from water, of sinking shafts, the dresses, 
appearance and labors of the workmen, are most faithfully portrayed. 

In one of the corners, behind a quantity of rubbish, old desks and 
benches, is the Armor of Cort^z — a plain unornamented suit of steel, from 
the size of which, I judge that the Conqueror was not a man of large 
frame or great bodily strength. Among the portraits of the Viceroys 
contained in this apartment, there is one of Cortez ; and in it he is depicted 
in a different manner from that in which we have been accustomed to 
know him since our boyhood, when we first made his acquaintance in 
school histories, drawn as a savage-looking hero with slouched hat and 
feather and fur-caped coat. There is no doubt, I am told, of the genu- 
ineness of the picture in this Museum; and its history is traced with 
certainty to the period of the third Viceroy, when the gallery of portraits 
was commenced. It represents him in armor, highly polished, and in- 
laid with gold. One hand rests upon his plumed helmet and the other 
on a truncheon. The figure is slender and graceful. I should say, from 
the expression of the head alone, that the portrait was accurate. His 
eyes are raised to heaven — his gray hair curls around a rather narrow 
and not very lofty brow, and the lower part of his face is covered with 
a grizzly beard and mustache, through which appears a mouth marked 
with firmness and dignity. There is a look of the world, and of heaven ; 
of veneration and authority. It is, in fact, a characteristic picture of the 
bigoted soldier, who slew thousands in the acquisition of gold, empire, 
and a new altar for the Holy Cross. Never was the biography of a hero 
and enthusiast, more fully written in history, than has been done by the 
unknown painter of this portrait on the canvas which embellished the 
walls of the Colonial Palace of Mexico. 

In the same room with this picture, hangs the banner under which he 
conquered. It is in a large gold frame, covered with glass; and, as well 
as I could distinguish in the bad light in which it is placed, represents 
the Virgin Mary, painted on crimson silk, surrounded with stars and an 
inscription. 

Just below this is an old Indian painting, made shortly after the con- 
quest, of which the following engraving is a fac-simile. I copied it very 
carefully, as an authentic record of some of the cruelties practiced by the 
Spaniards in subduing the chiefs of the country, and striking terror to the 
minds of the artless Indians. 



100 



MEXICO. 



yi^arraia 










The two figures in flie left-hand corner are Cortez and Dona Marina, 
as the mottoes above indicate. Marina holds a rosary in her hand, while 
the Marquis appears to be in the act of speaking and perhaps giving 
order for the execution represented beneath, where a Spaniard is seen in 
the act of loosening a blood-hound, who springs at the throat of an Indian. 
In the original copy all the colors are given. The hair of the victim is 
erect with horror, his eyes and mouth are distended, and his throat is 
spotted with blood, as the fangs and claws of the ferocious beast are driven 
through his flesh. 

Aptly placed just below this curious picture is another of the last of 
the Kings of Tezcoco, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter ; 
and beneath that again, on a stand, in the midst of a number of hideous 
idols carved in stone, are two Funeral Vases of baked clay, found some 
vears since at St. Jago Tlaltelolco. the northern suburb of the citv. 




FUXEBAI. TASK AITO COTXB. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



101 



This is really one of the most beautiful relies in the Museum, and is 
very accurately represented on the opposite page. It was discovered 
about nine feet below the surface of the ground ; the upper portion of it 
was filled with skulls, while thd lower contained fragments of the rest 
of the human frame. There appears to have been no bottom to the vase, 
but it was covered with the circular top delineated in the engraving. 
The whole vessel is one foot ten inches high, by one foot three and a half 
inches in diameter. 

This vase, besides being remarkable for the ornaments in relief upon 
it, presents all the colors with which it was originally painted, in high 
preservation and brilliancy, immediately below the rim is a winged 
head, with an Indian dress of plumes. The eyes are wide and fixed, 
and the mOuth is partly opened, displaying the teeth. The handles are 
oddly shaped, and depending from the tips of the wings is a collar formed 
of alternate ears of corn and sunflowers. The colors of the body of this 
vase are a bright azure ; the upper rim is a brilliant crimson, and the next 
a light-pink. The head and the ends of the wings, with the stripe in the 
middle, are painted a light-brown. The circular ornament in the centre 
is crimson, and the figures on it yellow. The sunflowers are also yel- 
low, while the two outer ears of corn are red, and the centre one blue. 
The band below these is brown, similar to the head and wings. 

The head on this vase is very i-emarkable in its expression. There is 
a fixed, intense, stony stare in the eyes, and a pinched sharpness about 
the mouth, which denote its character. It was evidently the idea of an 
Angel of death, while the full blown sunflower, and the ripe and stripped 
ears of corn, denote the fullness of years. 

In one of the cases are a series of interesting objects, of which the fol- 
lowing designs will give the reader some idea. 




Tnis is a rattle, made of baked clay, finely tempered, containing a 
small ball, the size of a pea. 



102 



MEXICO 



The next figures are specimens of "household gods;" some of the 
originals of which are now in my possession. 

Like the ancient Romans, the Mexicans had their Penates, called by 
them Tepitoton. The sovereigns, and great lords always had six of them 
in their dwellings ; the nobles four, and the common people two ; and it 
is related by Clavigero, that these gods were to be found everywhere in 
their streets. 





[Umi [aftlJ [i 
[0] [H [H [i 
[I3 [U [i] [si [J 




NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



103 





In this manner, the immense number of clay figures and fragments 
which are constantly dug up in every excavation made in the city of 
Mexico and its neighborhood, is satisfactorily accounted for. 





104 



MEXICO, 





Besides the rattle, given before, there are remains, or traditions, of but 
few other musical instruments known to the Mexicans. The Teponaztli 
or Indian drum, is made of hollowed wood, the exterior being covered 
with tasteful carving, of which the following designs will convey a faith- 
ful idea. 




NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



105 



The sound was produced by striking the pieces of wood which extended, 
without meeting, over the upper part of the cavity toward the centre of 
the instrument. 






These are whistles, made of baked clay, and covered with grotesque 
figures in relief. 




106 MEXICO 



The last figures represent flageolets, made, like the whistles, of baked 
clay. They have four stops, and the sound is, of course, very monotonous. 
I have seen them used, even at the present day, in some religious ceremo- 
nials of the Indians, as an .accompaniment to a drum which, though not 
shaped like the ieponazth, produced quite as little music. 



Around the walls of this chamber of the Museum are hung old Indian 
paintings of portions of Mexican history ; genealogies of the Mexican 
monarchs; computations of time; plans of the city before the conquest, 
and pictures of various battles and skirmishes that occurred between the 
natives and the invaders. I regret to say that many of these are only 
copies, the originals having been taken to England shortly after the estab- 
lishment of Independence, whence they have never been returned. They 
are placed better there, perhaps, than they would be in Mexico; where the 
existing remains of antiquity excite no curiosity, and lie, from year to 
year, covered with dust, and unexplored on the walls and in the closets 
of a university. With the exception of Don Carlos Bustamante, I know no 
one who has devoted an hour, of late years, to these interesting studies ; 
and the curator of the Museum, Don Isidrio Gondra, is so continually oc- 
cupied with his political duties, in the editing of the Government Gazette, 
and lacks so greatly the encouragement of the Government, and its dedi- 
cation of even a thousand dollars a year to archaiological researches, that 
he does no more than open the doors of these saloons on stated days and 
smoke his cigar quietly in a corner ; while the ladies, gentlemen, loafers 
and leperos, wander from case to case, and lift up their hands in astonish- 
ment at the grotesque forms. 

What those forms and figures mean ; what was represented by such 
an idol, or what by another — receives the unfailing Mexican answer : 
" Quien sale ?'' — " who knows ? who can tell ?" 

But I must not leave this building, without some remarks on a vase, 
of which the sketch on the next page is an accurate drawing, represent- 
ing both its sides. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



107 





jQQ MEXICO. 

This vessel, which is of a beautiful yellowish clay, tempered almost as 
finely as porcelain, and perfectly smooth and hard, is 9^ inches high^7 
in di'ameter, and ^of an inch thick. It was found in the Cerro del Te- 
soro, or " hill of the treasure," in the prefecture of Tula and Department 

of Mexico. - . ., 

I have desired to place it before you for the purpose of comparmg the 
fieures engraved on it with the style of the figures drawn by Mr. Cather- 
wood in Mr. Stephens's travels in Yucatan and elsewhere. Although 
there are no figures to which I can at once and entirely assimilate these, 
yet there is a general resemblance which cannot fail to strike the most 

careless observer. • j e 

It will be recollected that Tula was the head-qu-arters, at one period, ot 
the tribes which afterward penetrated into the Valley of Mexico, and some 
of which even continued still farther to the southward. May they not 
have been the parent stock from which sprang the builders of the nume- 
rous cities which now lie in ruins in Yucatan ? And may not this vase 
serve to show a connection between all the people who, at the time of the 
conquest, dwelt on the narrow land which connects the Northern and 
the Southern portions of our Continent? ^ , ^ ^. -. r .-u 

I recollect very well, with how much gusto Mr. Gondra brought it forth 
for my inspection, after he had seen the designs of Mr. Catherwood, and 
how perfectly his mind seems to be satisfied of the identity and charac- 
ter, origin and habits, of the people who formed this vessel and reared the 
Temples of Palenque. 



Beyond the room in which we have been so long detained, there is still 
another apartment, devoted to Natural History. But the Present fares 
no better than the Past. The birds and beasts are badly stuffed, badly 
mounted, badly arranged ; and when I hoped to find a collection of miner- 
als, or, at least some rare specimens of the splendid ores of Mexico, sys- 
tematically arranged, I regret to say that I met with equal disappoint- 

"" The last time I visited the Museum, I found on the centre table of the 
saloon of antiquities, the armor of Alvarado. It was pleasant to know 
that it had at length reached so appropriate a destination, after havmg 
been hawked about the Capital by various brokers, who were atone period 
on the eve of selling it to me, together with the hero's commission, signed 
by the Emperor, for the sum of one hundred dollars ! The Government 
gave one hundred and forty dollars for them, or I have no doubt that these 
relics of one of the bravest of the conquerors, and the next m repute to 
Cortez, would now adorn the walls of our National Institute. 




TEOTAOMIQ,TJE. — ^PKOFILi:. 




TEOTAOMI dVI. — ^FBOKT. 



LETTER XVII. 

TEOYAOMiqUI. MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 



The chief antiquities of the Mexicans which have descended to our 
times, are of a religious character; and their gods, their temples, their 
pyramids, and their funeral vases, alone remain, after every other im- 
portant record of a material character has wasted before Time and the 
bigoted rapacity of the Spaniards. An inquiry in relation to their reli- 
gion is therefore interesting, as a memorial of the past. Debase a nation 
as much as you may; crush out its spirit beneath the iron heel of despot- 
ism; tear from it and destroy every record of its greatness and its 
ancestry ; yet the miserable remnant which survives the ruin, will still 
retain, amid changed laws, changed customs, and even a changed faith, 
the shadow of some of the rites, and the recollection of the gods who were 
adored by its ancestors. The spirit seems to cling with traditionary fer- 
vor to the belief of our fathers. Thus, in Mexico, even after three cen- 
turies of the dominion of a foreign Priesthood, the Indian worship, (as 1 
shall have occasion hereafter to show,) still tinges the rites of the Catholic ; 
and I have been credibly informed, that, even now, the keepers of the 
University sometimes find garlands and flowers which have been hung 
around that hideous statue, whose figure has just been exhibited in the 
preceding engraving. 

Clavigero, who, with Veytia, is unquestionably the best writer on Mex- 
ican history, informs us, that the ancients believed there were three 
places assigned to their departed spirits. 

The soldiers who died in battle fighting for their country, or, who per- 
ished in captivity, and the souls of women who died in childbirth, went to 
the House of the Sun, where they led a life of endless delight. "At 
morning they hailed the luminary with music and dancing, attended him 
in his journey to the meridian, where they met the souls of women, and 
with similar festivities accompanied him to his setting." 

After years of these pleasures their spirits were transformed into 
clouds, or birds of beautiful plumage and pleasant song ; but they had 
power to ascend again, whenever they desired, to heaven. The ridicu 



110 MEXICO. 

lous notion of an aristocracy was carried by them even to the other world ; 
and while the nobles animated gorgeous birds and dazzling clouds, and 
floated in the purest air, the souls of the common people were doomed 
to crawl in weasels, beetles, and the meaner animals. 

The spirits of those who were drowned, or struck by lightning; of those 
who died with dropsy, tumors, wounds, or similar diseases ; went, with 
the souls of children who had either been drowned or sacrificed in honor 
of Tlaloc, "the god of the Water," to a delicious place named Tlalocan, 
■where that god resided, surrounded by everything that could contribute 
to pleasure and happiness. 

The third place of departed spirits was Mictlan or Hell. This was a 
kingdom of w/icr darkness, ruled by a god and goddess, and the gloomy 
blackness of the realm was the only punishment. Clavigero thinks that the 
Mexicans placed this hell in the centre of the earth — and it may have 
been but a type of titter annihilation. 

They had some imperfect ideas of a Supreme God, whom they feared 
and adored, yet represented by no external form, because they believed 
him to be invisible . He was generally spoken of as Teotl — God — but 
was known, also, by the name of Ipalnemoani, " He by whom we live;" 
and Tloque Nahuaque, " He who has all in himself." They had also 
an Evil spirit, inimical to mankind, called Tlaleatecolototl, '•' the Rational 
Owl." This spirit was said to appear frequently to men, to terrify or 
injure them ; but there is no distinct history of this wicked power, or of 
their religious system as applied to it. After Teotl — the Supreme in- 
visible Beino- — there were thirteen others worshipped in Mexico as prin- 
cipal gods. 

Tetzcatlipoca, the " Shining Mirror ;" " the God of providence ; the 
Soul of the world ; the Creator of heaven and earth ; the Master of all 
things." 

Ometeuctli and Omecihtjatl, a god and goddess, who granted mor- 
tals their wishes. These divinities appear to have presided over new-born 
children, and reigned in the " celestial paradise." 

CiHUACOHUATL, or "Woman Serpent;" also called Quilaztli or Toua- 
cacihua: "woman of our flesh;" was held to be the mother of the human 
race, and was venerated next to Ometeuctli and Omecihuatl. 

To^^4TRICLI and Meztli, the sun and moon deified ; of whom I shall 
have occasion to say something in describing the pyramids of St. Juan 
Teotihuacan. 

QuETZALCOATL, concerning whom I have already written in my letter 
on^holula. 

Tlaloc, " the god of Water ;" the fertilizer of the soil, the protector of 
temporal goods. His image was painted blue and green, to represent the 
hues of water, and in his hand he held an undulating and pointed rod to 
signify his control over storms and lightning. 

XiUHTEUCTLi, " master of the year and grass ;" the god of Fire. An 
oblation of the first morsel and the first draught at dinner, was always 



MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. HI 

given him by the Mexicans ; and at the close of the festival in his honor 
the fires in the temples and dwellings were extinguished, and rekindled 
from the one lighted before the idol. 

Centeotl, the " goddess of the Earth and Corn ;" and known, also, by 
another word which signifies " she who supports us." This was a god- 
dess devotedly worshipped by the Totonacos, who believed that in the 
course of time she would free them from the slavery of the other gods, 
and abolish the horrors of human sacrifice. To her only were offered 
doves, quails, leverets, and such harmless animals. She was a Mexican 
Ceres. 

MicTLANiEUCTLi, " the god of Hell," and his female companion. Sac- 
rifices were made to him at night, and his priests were clad in black 
during their ministrations at the altars. 

JoALTEUcTLi, " the god of Night ;" was the divinity who gave sleep 
to children, while Joalticitl was the goddess of cradles, and presided 
over their infants in the watches of the night. 

The next deity was the one most honored by the Mexicans, and re- 
garded as their chief protector — Huitzilipotchtli, or Mexitli, " the god 
of War," the Mexican Mars. 

This was the mighty power who became, (according to their tradition,) 
the protector of the Mexicans ; conducted them through the years of their 
pilgrimage, and at length, settled them on the spot where they afterward 
founded the great city of Mexico. 

" To him they raised that superb Temple so much celebrated by the 
Spaniards. His statue was of gigantic size, in the posture of a man seated 
on a blue-colored bench, from the corners of which issued four gigantic 
snakes. His forehead was blue, and his face and the back of his head 
were covered with golden masks. He wore a crest shaped like the beak 
of a bird. On his neck was a collar of ten fgures of the human heart. 
In his right hand he bore a blue club, huge and twisted — in his left a 
shield, on which appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form of a 
cross, while from the upper part of it rose a golden flag with four arrows, 
which the Mexicans pretend to have been sent from heaven to perform 
the glorious actions of his history. His body was girt with a large 
golden snake, and adorned with various lesser figures of animals, made 
of gold and silver and precious stones, each of which ornaments had a 
peculiar meaning."* 

Whenever war was contemplated by the Mexicans, this god was im- 
plored for protection, and they offered up to him a greater number of 
human victims than to any of the other deities. The only figure I found 
in Mexico upon which the antiquarians seemed agreed as to its represen- 
tation of this god, (though not with all the splendor described by Clavi- 
gero,) was the following : it is in bas-relief, and is in the collection of 
Don Mariano Sanchez y Mora, ex-Conde del Penasco. 

• Vide Clavigero and McCuIloh. 



112 



MEXICO, 




I cannot conclude the account of this god without referring to a tra- 
dition which is given in relation to him, by Acosta, in his Natural and 
Moral History, book 4th, chap, xxiv., and is repeated by Clavigero and 
Dr. McCulloh. , . , . 

Two days before his festival, an idol representing him was made by 
the sacred Virgins, of grains of parched corn and seeds of beets, mixed 
together with honey or the Wood of cMdren. This they clothed with a 
splendid dress and seated on a litter. _ 

On the morning of the festal day this figure was borne m solemn pro- 
cession around the city of Mexico, and then carried to the temple, where 
they had prepared a great quantity of the same paste of seeds and blood 
of which the priests also made an idol, called ^^the flesh and hones of 

Huitzilopotchtli. , .„ , 

After certain ceremonials and consecration, the image was sacrificed 
as they sacrificed their human victims, "and his body was broken into 
small pieces, ^vhich, together with those portions called Ms 'flesh and hones 
were distributed among the people^ who, according to Acosta, received 
the same with tears, fear and reverence, as if it was an admirable thmg, 
saying that they did eat the flesh and hones of God, wherewith they were 
.rieved. Such as had any sick folks," continues Acosta, "demanded 
thereof for them, and carried it with great reverence and devotion. 



MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 



113 



This extraordinary ceremonial was no coinage of the Spanish priests, 
for Acosta calls it " a communion, which the devil himself, the prince of 
■pride, ordained in Mexico, to counterfeit the Holy Sacrament T^* 

Thus magnificent as was the god of War, he did not disdain, accord- 
ing to tradition, to take unto himself a very hideous partner, whose mon- 
strous and horrible figure has been preserved to these times in the statue, 
drawings of which are given at the commencement of this letter. 

Teoyaomiqxji, the wife of Huitzilopotchtli, was the goddess who con- 
ducted the souls of the warriors, who died in defence of their altars, to 
the Mexican Elysium — the House of the Sun. 

The figure on the opposite page represents the front of this idol — the 
breasts denoting the sex. At the sides of these, and beneath, are four 
hands, displaying the open palms, while above and between the hands are 
sacks, or purses in the shape of gourds, which, according to Don Fernando 
de Alvarado Tezozomoc, represented "the woven purses,'^ of a blue color, 
filled with copal, that were offered to the idol containing the sacred incense 
used at the election and funeral ceremonies of Kings, and burned with 
the bodies or hearts of the captives slain to accompany the deceased 
sovereign on his journey to the world of spirits. 

In front of the waist, a death-head is attached. The strap by which 
these skulls are held, will be perceived in the second figure, which ex- 
hibits the statue in profile. 

The knots of serpents, the feathers, the shells, and the nails or claws 
forming the lower part of the figure, are said by De Gamaf to be the 
insignia of other gods connected with Teoyaomiqui or her husband ; 
while all those above the waist, both in front and behind, are symbols of 
that deity herself. The top of the statue is represented in the following 
drawing : 




* The figure of the Holy Cross has been found in Mexico, and a drawing of one discovered at Palenque, is 
given by Mr. Stephens in his first volume. It is known that an idolatrous worship was paid it before the con- 
quest. In Egypt it was venerated from the greatest antiquity as the symbol of matter. Among the Irish it was 
the symbol of knowledge, and Garcilaso de la Vega informs '!<!, that the ancient Peruvians had "across of 
white marble which they held in great veneration, but did not adore." They could give no reason for the respect 
they paid it. 

tP. 36, Discripcion Historica y Cronologica. 



114 MEXICO. 

And the next is a picture of its lower part or bottom: 




It is the opinion of all the Mexican antiquarians, from the fact of this 
sculpture in relief being found beneath the idol, and the additional fact 
of the projections at the sides of the body near the waist, (as seen in the 
first plate,) that the statue was suspended by them on pillars, so as to al- 
low the worshippers or the priests to pass with ease beneath the monster. 
The idol represented on the base is supposed to be that of Mictlan- 
TEUHTLi, the "god of Hell." 

The height of this immense mass, carved from one solid block of basalt, 
is nine feet, and its breadth about five and a half 

Such was one of the hideous gods worshipped by the ancient Mexicans. 
In the year 1790, on the 13th of August, it was found at a short depth 
below the surface of the great square. It was removed, some time after- 
ward, to the court-yard of the University, where it was buried again to 
conceal it from the Indians, who might have been tempted by the devil, (as 
was said by the priests,) to return to its idolatrous worship. It is only 
since the year 1821, that it has been exposed to public view in the in 
closure where I found it, and which I have described to you. 




TOP OP SACBIFICIAI STONE. 



LETTER XVIH. 



PRIESTS. TEMPLES. SACRIFICES. 



The Priests have always borne an important part in Mexican affairs, 
and it is stated, upon good authority, that at the height of the power of 
the Empire, they numbered not less than one million in the service of the 
different idols. 

They were divided into different orders, and there were both monks and 
priests, as among the Catholics. Women, also, entered into the sacred 
order, and performed all the duties usually assigned to the males, except 
that of sacrifiGe. The monks were called Hamacazques, and the priests 
Teopixqui. 

They had two chiefs, who obtained their rank and power by lives of 
exemplary probity and virtue, and by a profound acquaintance with all 
the rites and mysteries of their religion. These were the "diviners" or 
soothsayers, who were consulted by the authorities on all high matters of 
state, both in peace and war. They officiated at the most solemn of their 
sacrifices, and crowned the sovereign upon his accession to the throne. 
On the principal festivals their dress was splendid, and bore the insignia 
of the god in whose honor they officiated. To the minor priesthood, 
all the humble duties of the temples were assigned ; they cleaned the 
sacred edifice, educated the young, took care of the holy pictures, and 
observed the Calendar. 

Nor did they lack a resemblance to portions of the Catholic clergy, in 
the austerity and mortification of their lives. Not only did they wear 
sackcloth next their skin and apply the scourge in secret, but they shed 
their own blood; pierced themselves with the sharp points of the aloe; and 
bored their ears, lips, tongues, arms and legs, by introducing fragments 
of cane, which they gradually increased in size, as their wounds began to 
heal. Their fasts, too, were long and severe. 

Eacl: sex lived apart, leading a life of celibacy, in monastic establish- 
ments, and their income was derived from lands set aside for their main- 
tenance, — separate revenues being devoted to the support of the Temple. 



^^ MEXICO. 

It is in their sacred edifices that these people were the most remarkable, 
and, as in Egypt, they are probably the only remains that will be discov- 
ered in our day and generation. 

I shall have occasion, hereafter, to give some descriptions of other Teo- 
callis, " Houses of God^' — and Teopans, ^'Places of God;" but I cannot 
refrain, in this connection, from giving you some idea of the condition of 
the great Temple of Mexico at the period of the conquest, as the account 
of it comes from eye-witnesses, between whom there can by no possibility 
have been a collusion to impose either upon the sovereign for whom the 
one wrote, or, upon the mass of the Spanish nation to which the writings of 
the others were addressed. 

It is related that in the year 1486, Ahuitzotl, the eighth King of Mexico 
and predecessor of Montezuma, completed the great Teocalli in his 
capital. 

* This magnificent edifice occupied the centre of the city, and, together 
with the other temples and buildings annexed to it, comprehended all that 
space upon which the great Cathedral church now stands, part of the 
greater market place, and part of the neighboring streets and buildings. 

It was surrounded by a wall eight feet thick, built of stcnie and lime, 
crowned with battlements in the form of niches, and ornamented with 
many stone figures in the shape of serpents. Within this inclosure, it is 
affirmed by Cortez, that a town of five hundred houses might have been 
built ! 

It had four gates fronting the cardinal points, and over each portal was 
a military arsenal filled with needful equipments. 

The space within the walls was beautifully paved with polished stones, 
so smooth that the horses of the Spaniards " could not move over them 
without slipping," and in the centre of this splendid area arose the great 
Teocalli. This was an immense truncated pyramid of earth and stones, 
composed of four stories or bodies ; an idea of which may perhaps be 
obtained by an inspection of the following drawing, taken from one made 
by the Anonymous Conquerox', which may be found in the collection of 
Ramusis, and in the CEdipus Mgyptiacus of Father Kircher. 

* I give the description of Clavigero and Dr. McCulloh, founded on the authority of Uortiz's Letters tc 
Charles V . Beinal Diaz, Sahagun, and the Anonymous Conqueror. 



GREAT TEOCALLI, 



1J7 




The top of this pyramid (as appears from the design) was not reached by 
a flight of steps from the base on the front of the edifice, but by a stairway 
passing from body to body; so that a person, in ascending, was obliged to 
move four times around the whole of the Teocalli before he reached its 
summit. The width of these spaces or stories, at the base of each body, 
was five or six feet, and it is alleged that three or four persons abreast 
could easily pass round them. 

There is some difference of opinion among the old writers, as to the 
dimensions of the mound ; but Clavigero, after a laborious investigation, 
comes to the conclusion, " that the first body or base of the building, 
was more than fifty perches long from east to west, and about forty-three 
in breadth from north to south ; the second body was about a perch less in 
length and breadth ; the third so much less than the second, and the rest 
in proportion." Dr. McCulloh, relying on Gomara and Humboldt, states 
that the mound was faced with stone, and was 320 feet square at the base, 
and 120 feet high. 

In the drawing just given, it will be observed that there are two towers 
erected on the upper surface, and Clavigero so describes the edifice ; but 
the learned author of Researches on American Aboriginal History, found- 



lie MEXICO. 

ing his opinion on Gomara and Bernal Diaz, ventures to differ from Cla- 
vigero. Diaz says there was but one, and those who read his work, in the 
original, will not fail to be struck with the air of accuracy and truth with 
which the whole story of that brave old soldier is given from beginning 
to end. 

There is no question, however, that there was at least one tower, raised 
to nearly the height of fifty-six feet. It was divided into three stories, the 
lower one of stone and mortar ; the others of wood, neatly wrought and 
painted. The inferior portion of this edifice was the Sanctuary ; wnere, 
Diaz relates, two highly adorned altars were erected to Huitzilopotchtli 
and Tezcatlipoca, over which the idol images were placed in state. 

Before these towers, or tower, on two vases or altars, " as high as a man," 
a fire was kept day and night, and its accidental extinguishment was 
dreaded, as sure to be followed by the wrath of Heaven. 

In addition to this great Teocalli, there were forty other temples dedi- 
cated to the gods, within the area of the serpent-covered wall. There 
was the Tezcacalli, or " House of Mirrors," the walls of which were cov- 
ered with brightly shining materials. There was the Teccizcalli, a house 
adorned with shells, to which the sovereign retired at times for fasting, 
solitude and prayer. There were temples to Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc, and 
QaetzalcoatI — the shrine of the latter being circular, while those of the 
others were square. '' The entrance" says Clavigero, " to this sanctuary 
was by the mouth of an enormous serpent of stone, armed with fangs ; and 
the Spaniards who, tempted by their curiosity, ventured to enter, after- 
ward confessed their horror when they beheld the interior." It is said, 
that among these temples was one dedicated to the planet Venus ; and that 
they sacrificed a number of prisoners, at the time of her appearance, 
before a huge pillar, upon which was engraved the figure of a star. 

The Colleges of the priests, and their seminaries, were likewise various 
and perhaps numerous ; " but only five are particularly known, although 
there must have been more, from the prodigious number of persons who 
were found in that place consecrated to the worship of the gods." 

Besides these edifices of religious retirement and learning, there was a 
house of entertahiment to accommodate strangers of eminence, who piously 
came to visit the Temple, or to see the ''grandeurs of the Court." There 
were ponds, in which the priests bathed at midnight, and many beautiful 
fountains, one of which was deemed holy, and only used on the most 
solemn festivals. 

Then there were gardens where flowers and sweet-smelling herbs were 
raised for the decoration of the altars, and among which they fed the 
birds used in sacrifices to certain idols. It is said, that there was even 
a little wood or grove filled with " hills, rocks, and precipices," from 
which, upon one of their solemn festivals, the priests issued in a mimic 
chase. 

Without entering on a more extended description of the Mexican tern- 
pies, and the lives, chaiacter, and occupations of the priesthood, I will 




GKOtJP FEOM THE SIDE OF SACRIFICIAt STOKE. 



SACRIFICIAL STONE. 119 

conclude this branch of an interesting antiquarian subject, by referring 
all who are curious in such matters, to the very interesting volumes of 
the Abbe Clavigero, who, after a residence of near forty years in the prov- 
inces of New Spain, composed his history of Mexico. His life had been 
passed in deep study of the Indian and Spanish writers, and the results of 
his well-digested labors have, after near half a century, passed to our 
times as indisputable authority. 

But after instructing you in some degree in the history of the priest- 
hood and the temples, it would be improper for me to leave the subject 
without an account of the services to which they were both devoted. 

The chief of these were the sacrifices — and in illustration of them, I 
have placed at the commencement of this letter, a drawing of the large 
circular stone now in the University of Mexico, known by the name of 
the " Piedra de Sacrificios," or Sacrificial Stone. It is an immense mass 
of basalt, mne/eef in diameter and three in height, and was found in 1790, 
below the great square of Mexico, on the site of the Teocalli, which I 
have just described. 

When first discovered, this stone was overturned, but, upon reversing 
it, carvings in bas-relief were seen on the surface, and the sides were 
found to be beautifully sculptured, as will be observed in the opposite 

plate. 

In the centre of the upper surface there is a circular cavity, from 
which a canal, or gutter, leads to the circumference of the cylinder and 
partly down its side. This, together with the sculpture, has induced most 
writers to believe it to have been the stone on which the priests performed 
their sacrifices, and that the blood of the victims flowed from it by these 
evident conduits. Yet other authors doubt whether it was ever appropri- 
ated to this use. It is true, that in the description of the great Temple 
given by the old writers, it is alleged that in front of the tower, on the 
summit, there was a large convex stone upon which they extended the 
person who was to be sacrificed ; but it is highly probable that so huge a 
mass of rock as this,* could not have been borne up such intricate passages 
as the steps of the Teocalli, to the height of 120 feet. De Gama is of opin- 
ion that these stones were also found in the square below, in the temples, 
or before the altars of other deities ; and, in the description of those iu 
the temples of Huitzilopolchtli and Tlaloc, Doctor Hernandez says they 
were '' convexas et orUculari forma" and called " Techcatl." "Ante 
has" (meusulas) " aderant lapidse orbiculari forma, quibus techcatl no- 
men, ubi servi, at in proeliis capti, in horum Deorum honorem macta- 
bantur, ^ quilus lapidibus in parimentum usque in infemum civi sanguinei 
cmspiciehantur vestigia, quod etiam videbatur in cceteris turribus." 

With these authorities, and apparent appropriateness from the cavi- 
ties already described, it is, nevertheless, the opinion of De Gama that this 
was neither a Stone of Sacrifice, nor the Gladiatorial Stone. Such, how. 

* Nine feet in diameter bj three feet hieh. 



120 MEXICO. 

ever, is its name, and such the opinion of most persons in Mexico ; and, 
although I should not perhaps, in justice, venture to express an opinion, 
yet I cannot help believing with the majority. 

When we look at the sculpture at the sides, we are struck with the fit- 
ness of the adornment for sacrificial ceremonies. The Mexicans un- 
doubtedly sacrificed the captives they had taken in battle, and the bas-relief 
evidently represents a conqueror and a captive. The victor's hand is 
raised in the act of tearing the plumes from his prisoner's crest, while the 
captive bows beneath the indignity, and prostrates his arms : — and here let 
me invite the reader's attention to the great similarity of these figures and 
.heir dresses, to those delineated by Catherwood and Stephens, as having 
been found in Yucatan and at Palenque.* 



I will now give you some account of the Mexican Sacrifices. These 
were of two kinds : the common sacrifice of human victims, and the 
" Gladiatorial Sacrifice." 

It is supposed, that neither the Toltecs nor Chechemicas permitted hu- 
man sacrifices, and that it was reserved for the successors of these occu- 
pants of the Vale of Anahuac to institute the abominable practice. The 
history of the Aztec tribe reveals to us the fact, that it fought itself gradu- 
ally to power. The Mexicans founded their Empire first among the la- 
gunes and marshes of the lake ; and it grew, by slow degrees, to the 
power and wealth it possessed at the period of the conquest. 

When I encounter in Mexican history a monstrous fact like this, of the 
sacrifice to the gods of the unfortunate prisoners who had fallen into 
their power in battle, I am not deterred, by its enormity, from inquiring 
whether some secret policy may not have originated the horrid rite. The 
mind naturally revolts at the idea that it sprang from a mere brutal love 
of blood, or that a nation could, at any period of the world, have been so 
cruel and so inhuman ! 

In reviewing, then, the history of the Empire of a weak but bold and 
ambitious people — fighting for a foothold ; becoming powerful only as it 
was able to inspire its enemies with terror ; unable to maintain, subdue, 
or imprison its captives — we may ask ourselves, whether it was not rather 
a stroke of savage statesmanship in the Chiefs of the time, to make a merit 
of necessity, and a holy and religious rite of what, under other circum- 
stances and in a later period of the world, has been considered a murder 1 

And such, I believe, to have been the beginning of the Mexican sacri- 
fices. A weak people unable to. control, enslave, or trust its prisoners, 
devoted them to the gods. But, in the progress of time, when that nation 
had acquired a strength equal to any emergency, this ceremony, too, Ixad 
become a prescriptive usage — a traditionary and most important part of 
the religion itself; and thus, what in its inception was the policy of fee- 

* Vide Stephens's Yucatan, vo). i, pp. 412 and 413, and the platea opposite tliem. 



HUMAN SACRIFICES. 



121 



bleness, ended in an established principle of the mythology of a powerful 
and even civilized Empire. 



Let us now proceed to consider the manner in which these sacrifices 
were conducted. 

The usual number of priests required at the altar was six, one of whom 
acted as Sacrificer and the others as his assistants. The Cliief of these, 
whose office and dignity were preeminent, assumed at every sacrifice the 
name of the deity to whom the oblation was made. 

His dress was a red habit, like the Roman scapulary, fringed with cot- 
ton ; his head was bound with a crown of green and yellow feathers j 
his ears were adorned with emeralds, and from his lips depended a tur- 
quoise. The other ministers at the rite were clad in white, embroidered"^ 
with black ; their locks bound up, their heads covered with leather thongs, 
their foreheads filleted with slips of paper of various colors, and their 
bodies dyed entirely black. 

They dressed the victim in the insignia of the god to whom he was to 
be offered ; adored him as they would have adored the divinity himself • 
and bore him ai'ound the city asking alms for the temple. He was then 
carried to the top of the temple and extended upon the stone of sacrifice. 

Four of the priests held his limbs, and another kept his head or neck 
firm with a yoke, an original of which is preserved in the Museum, and 
is here represented. 




SACEIFtCIAL YOKE. 



122 



MEXICO, 



Thus arranged, the body of the captive lay arched over the rounded 
stone, witli the breast and stomach stretched and raised. 

The Topiltzin, or Sacrificer, then approached with a sharp knife of 
obsidian. 




SACKIFICIAL KNIFE OP OBSIDIAN. 



He made an incision in the victim's breast; tore out his heart with his 
hand ; offered it to the sun, and then threw it palpitating at the feet of the 
god. 

If the idol was large and hollow, it was usual to insert the heart in 
its mouth with a golden spoon ; and at other times it " was taken up from 
the ground again, offered to the idol, burned, and the ashes preserved with 
the greatest veneration." 

" After these ceremonies," says Dr. McCuUoh, "the body was thrown 
from the top of the temple, whence it was taken by the person who had 
offered the sacrifice, and carried to his house, where it was eaten by him- 
self and friends. The remainder was burned, or carried to the royal 
menageries to feed the wild beasts!'^ 

At times they offered only flowers, fruits, oblations of bread, cooked 
meats, (like the Chinese,) copal and gums, quails, falcons, and rabbits ; 
but, at the feasts of some of the deities, especially every fourth year, 
among the Quauhtitlans, the rites were dreadfully inhuman. 

Six trees were then planted in the area of the temple, and two slaves 
were sacrificed, from whose bodies the skin was stripped, and the thigh- 
bones withdrawn. On the following day, " clad in the bloody skins with 
the thigh-bones in their hands," two of the chief priests slowly descended 
the steps of the temple, with dismal bowlings, while the multitude assem- 
bled below shouted, " Behold our gods !" 

At the base of the temple they danced to the sound of music, while the 
people sacrificed several thousand quails. When this oblation was ter- 
minated, the priests fastened to the tops of the trees six prisoners, who 
were immediately pierced with arrows. They then cut the bodies from 
the trees and threw them to the earth, where their breasts were torn 
open, and the hearts wrenched out according to the usual custom. This 
bloody and cruel festival was ended by a banquet, in wliich the priests 
and nobles of the city feasted on the quails and the human fesh ! 



HUMAN SACRIFICES, 



123 



The other mode of sacrifice, as I have before said, was the " Gladia- 
torial." 




GLADIATORIAL STONE, 



The stone, of which the foregoing plate is an outline, was, (like the 
Sacrificial Stone,) found in the great square of Mexico, where it still lies 
buried, for want of the trifling sum required to disinter it once more, and 
place it in the Museum. 

When the square was undergoing repairs, some years past, this monu- 
ment was discovered a short distance beneath the surface. Mr. Gondra 
endeavored to have it removed, but the Government refused to incur the 
expense ; and its dimensions, as he tells me, being exactly those of the 
Sacrificial Stone, viz. nine feet by three, he declined undertaking it on 
his own account. Yet, anxious to preserve, if possible, some record of 
the carving with which it was covered, (especially as that carving was 
painted with yellow, red, green, crimson, and black, and the colors still 



124 MEXICO. 

Guite vivid,) he bad a drawing made, of which the sketch in this work is 
a fac-simile. 

Mr. Gondra believes it to have been the Gladiatorial Stone, placed per- 
haps opposite the great Sacrificial Stone, at the base of the Teocalli. 
This however, would not agree with the accounts of some of the old 
writers, who, although they agree that this stone was circular, as is signi- 
fied by its name, (Temalacatl) yet state that its surface was smooth, and 
had in its centre a bore or bolt, to which the captive was attached, as 
will be hereafter described. 

The figures represented on the stone in relief, are evidently those of 
warriors armed, and ready for the strife ; and I have thought it proper to 
give the picture of it to the public, for the first time, (subject, of course, 
to all critical observations,) with the hope that if it be not the Gladiatorial 
Stone, those who are more learned in Mexican antiquity, may some day 
discover what it really is. It is certainly remarkable for the colors, 
which are yet fresh; and for the figure of the "open hand," which is 
sculptured on a shield and between the legs of some of the figures of 
the groups at the sides. This " open hand" was a figure found by Mr. 
Stephens, in almost every temple he visited, during his recent explora- 
tions of Yucatan.* 



The Gladiatorial Sacrifice— the most noble of them all— was reserved 
alone &r captives renowned for courage. 

In an area, near the temple, large enough to contain a vast crowd of 
spectators, upon a raised terrace eight feet from the wall, was a circular 
stone, " resembling a mill-stone,''' says Clavigero,t "which was three feet 
high, well polished, and with figures cut on it." On this the prisoner was 
placed, tied by one foot, and armed with a small sword and shield, while 
a Mexican soldier or officer, better armed and accoutred, mounted to en- 
counter him in deadly conflict. The efforts of the brave prisoner were 
of course redoubled to save his life and fame, as were those of the Mex- 
lean, whose countrymen gazed with anxiety upon him as the vindicator 
of their nation's skill and glory. If the captive was vanquished in the 
combat, he was immediately borne "to the altar of common sacrifice, 
and his heart torn out, while the multitude applauded the victor, who was 
rewarded bv his sovereign. Some historians declare, that if the prisoner 
vanquished'one combatant he was free ; but Cort6z tells us that he was 
not granted his life and liberty until he had overcome six It was then, 
only, that the spoils taken from him in war were restored, and he was 
allowed to return to his native land. 

It is related that once when the chief lord of the Cholulans had become 
captive to the Huexotzincas, he overthrew, in the gladiatorial fight, seven 

t Clavigero, vol. ii., 280. , . , » j;.;„„ 

* I have not caused the figures on the sides of tliis stone to be engraved m the present edition. 



HUMAN SACRIFICES. 125 

of the foes who came to encounter him ; and being thus entitled to his 
fortune and liberty, he was nevertheless slain by his enemies, who feared 
so valiant and fortunate a chieftain. By this perfidious act, the nation 
rendered itself eternally infamous among all the rest. 

The number of the victims, with whose blood the Teocallis of Mexico 
were in this manner, and in the " common sacrifice" annually deluged, 
is not precisely known. Clavigero thinks 20,000 nearer the truth than 
any of the other relations ; but the question may well be asked. Whence 
came the subjects to glut the gods with these periodical sacrifices? It 
seems that no land could furnish them without depopulation. 

In the consecration of the Great Temple, however, which, it is related, 
took place in the year 1486, under the predecessor of Montezuma, there 
appears no doubt among those who have most carefully examined the 
matter, that its walls and stairways, its altars and shrines, were baptized 
and consecrated with the blood of more than sixty thousand victims. " To 
make these horrible ofl'erings" says the historian, " with more show and 
parade, they ranged the prisoners in two files, each a mile and a half in 
length, which began in the woods of Tacuba and Iztpalapan, and termin- 
ated at the Temple, where, as soon as the victims arrived, they were 
sacrificed." 

Six millions of people, it is said, attended, and if this is not an exag- 
geration of tradition, there can be no wonder whence the captives sprung, 
or why the rite of sacrifice was instituted. If anything can pardon the 
cupidity and blood-thirstiness of the Christian Spaniard, for his overthrow 
of the Temple and Monarchy of Mexico, it is to be found in the cruel 
murders which were perpetrated, by the immolation of thousands of im 
mortal beings to a blind and bloody idolatry. 



LETTER XIX. 



THE MEXICAN CALENDAE. FIRE-WORSHIP, ETO. 




MEXICAN CALENDAR. 127 

The carved stone represented in the plate was found in the year 1790, 
about six feet below the surface of the Plaza, in the city of Mexico. The 
opinion of the best antiquarians is, that it was the Tonalponalli,- -or " solar 
reckoning " of the ancient Mexicans, derived by them probably from the 
Toltecs. 

Before describing this relic, I will present a brief account of the 
division of time among these nations, illustrating in this manner and by 
the stone itself, one branch of the arts and sciences, at least, in which 
they had made a great and civilized progress. 

The Mexicans had two Calendars by which they computed Time ; the 
first being used for the " reckoning of the moon," and the regulation of 
their religious festivals, and the other for the " reckoning of the sun," or 
civil purposes. 

Their civil year consisted of 18 months of 20 days each, by which 
division they gave the year 360 days; but the remaining five days were 
added to the last month, and bore the name of nemontemi, or " useless 
days." 

The tropical year being six hours longer than 365 days, they lost a 
day every four years ; but this fact appears to have been entirely disre- 
garded by them in their calculations, until the expiration of their cycle 
of 52 years ; when, having lost, in all, 13 days, they added that number 
to the period, before they commenced another cycle. 

The 18 months had each a name derived from some festival, bird, 
plant, or fruit, occurring or appearing at that season, which name was 
designated by a peculiar hieroglyphic. The 20 days of the month had 
also each a name and mark, that was ever the same in all the eighteen. 
They reckoned by cycles of 52 years ; and subdivided the months into 
four periods, or weeks of five days ; each day of which commenced, 
as among the Romans and other nations, at sunrise, and was separated 
into eight portions.* 



The stone (of which I have presented an extremely accurate drawing 
from one made v/ith the greatest care by De Gama,) is now walled against 
the base of one of the towers of the Cathedral, where it passes by the. 
name of el Relax de Montezuma, or " Montezuma's watch." It is a vast 
mass of basalt, eleven feet eight inches in diameter, and the circular portion 
is raised by a rim of about 7| inches from the broken square of basalt, 
out of which the whole was originally carved. This rim is adorned with 
the sculpture represented in the second figure. 

De Gama, in his '' Descripcion Historica,'' has prepared a long and 
very learned account of the various figures and symbols with which this 
Calendar is covered, and from his observations, and those of Nebel, I have 

* McCulloh's Res ■ 201, et seq. 



128 MEXICO. 

digested the following description. Involved as almost all antiquarian 
researches are in obscuiity, and free as those who engage in tliem are to 
mix up their fancies and theories with the slightest facts upon which they 
can found a hypothesis, I confess that 1 do not rely entirely upon the 
surmises of the writers I have cited. Yet they are the only persons who 
have hitherto attempted to unravel the mystery, and I am therefore obliged 
either to present their conjectures or none. 

The large head in the centre, with a protruding tongue, is said to repre- 
sent the sun ; while the triangular figures marked with the letter R, and 
the other figures marked with the letter L, denote the larger and lesser 
rays with which the Indians surrounded that luminary. 

Around this central sun are four squares, denoted by A, B, C, D, 
which, together with the circular figures E F at the sides of the triangle, 
I, at the top, and the character H at the bottom, combined, (according to 
De Gama,) to form the symbol of the sun's movement — or perhaps the 
symbols of the four weeks into which the month was divided. 

The hieroglyphs denoted by the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5z;c. up to 20, 
are the days of the month, and the rest of the figures around the zone are 
somewhat fancifully said to represent the milky way known to the an- 
cients by the name of Citlalinycue. By an equal stretch of the imagina- 
tion, the waving lines, marked V, are supposed to indicate the clouds, 
which were venerated as gods called Almaque, the inseparable com- 
panions of Tlaloc De Gama thinks that the small squares at e are 
symbols of the mountains where the clouds are formed. Such are the 
satisfactory conjectures of antiquarians ! 

Gnomons were placed in the holes at X, Z, PP, QQ, «nd YY ; the 
stone was then set up vertically due east and west, with its carved face 
to the south, and by means of threads stretched from the tops of the gno- 
mons and the shadows they cast on the surface of the stone, the seasons 
of the year, and the periods of the day, were determined with astronomi- 
cal accuracy. 

******* 
* * * * * * * . 

Various other carved stones intended for astronomical purposes, have 
been discovered at different times throughout the Valley of Mexico and 
its neighborhood. De Gama relates, that " in the year 1775, while labor- 
ers were excavating at the hill of Chalpultepec, they laid bare a cluster 
of curiously sculptured rocks, which, after a careful examination, he 
believed had once formed a portion of the system by which the Mexicans 
determined the exact periods of sunrise and sunset at the equinoxes, and 
regulated the time during the remainder of the 5/ ear." But when he 
returned to the hill for the purpose of further investigation, he found these 
rocks and all their carving had been destroyed oy the ignorant excavators, 



FIRE WORSHIP. 129 

through the utter carelessness and neglect of the authorities of the place. 
The same fate was shared by another astronomical erection, which was 
found on the hill of Tezcosingo, on the eastern side of the lake of Tez- 
coco. to which I shall have occasion to allude in an account of a visit I 
paid to the pyramids of St. Juan Teotihuacan. 

These are the few hasty and very imperfect sketches I have collected, 
to illustrate one branch of the art and science of these people ; and I will 
conclude them by an account of a singular superstition which is related 
by the Baron Humboldt to have existed, in regard to the termination of 
their cycle of 52 years. They firmly believed that the sun would return 
no more on his diurnal course, and that evil spirits would descend to 
destroy mankind ! 

" On the last day of the greatcycle the sacred fires were extinguished 
in all their temples and dwellings, and the people devoted themselves to 
prayer. At the approach of night no one dared to kindle a flame — their 
vessels of clay were broken, their garments rent, and whatever was pre- 
cious destroyed as useless in the approaching ruin. In this mad super- 
stition, pregnant women became the objects of peculiar horror to men ; 
they covered their faces with paper masks, they imprisoned them in their 
granaries; and believed that when the final catastrophe occurred, these 
unfortunate females, transformed into tigers, would join with the demons 
and avenge themselves for the injustice and cruelty of men. 

" As soon as it became dark on that awful evening, a grand and 
solemn procession of the "New Fire" was commenced. The priests put 
on the garments of the various idols, and followed by the sad and bewild- 
ered people, ascended a hill about six miles from the city. 

" This mournful march was called the " procession of the gods," and 
was supposed to be their final departure from their temples and altars. 

" When the solemn train had reached the top of the hill, it rested until 
the pleiades ascended to the zenith, and then commenced the sacrifice of 
a human victim, stretched on the stone of sacrifice, and covered on the 
breast with a wooden shield which the chief priest inflamed hy friction. 

" The victim received the fatal blow or wound from the usual obsidian 
knife of sacrifice, and as soon as life was extinct, the machine to create 
fire was put in motion on the board over his bosom. When the blaze had 
kindled, the body was thrown on an immense pile, the flames of which 
instantly ascended into the air, and denoted the promise of the sun's re- 
turn ! All who had been unable to join in the sacred procession of the 
departing gods, had climbed to the terraces of houses and the tops of 
Teocallis, whence they strained their eyes toward the spot where the 
hoped-for flame was to appear, and as soon as it burst upon their sight, 
hailed it with joyful shouts and acclamations, as a token of the benevolence 
of the gods and the preservation of their race for another cycle. 

" Runners, placed at regular distances from each other, held aloft 
torches of resinous pine, by which they transferred the new fire to each 
other, and carried it from village to village, throughout the Empire, de- 



130 MEXICO. 

positing it anew in every temple, whence it was again distributed to the 
dwellings of the people. 

" When the sun arose above the horizon on the succeeding day, the 
shouting and joy were renewed by the people in the city, toward which 
at that moment the priests and crowd took up the line of returning march. 
It was the restoration of their gods to their deserted shrines ! 

*' The imprisoned women were immediately released ; the whole popu- 
lation clad themselves in new garments ; the temples were purified and 
whitened, and everything that was requisite for domestic comfort, splendor 
or necessity, was renewed under the promise of renewed life and protec- 
tion from the gods." 

There is scarcely a country of the world, in which there are not or 
have not been traces of this adoration of the sun, the great source of life, 
light, fruition, and beauty; and, among the brutal rites of the Mexican 
priesthood, it is gratifying ' bserve a festival like this which has in itself 
something natural and dra. itic* 

* For a learned paper upon the Mexican Calendar, Language, &c. &c., by Albert Gallatin, see the 
first article in the fiist volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnilogical Society : New-York, 
1845. 



LETTER XX. 

THE GITY DF MEXICO AS IT WAS AT THE CONQITEST. 

After having given an account of the antiquities which survived the 
ravages of the conquerors, (who, with a blind zeal to establish their 
power and religion, overthrew temple, tower, and almost every record of 
the Indians,) it has struck me that a notice or sketch of the city of Mon- 
tezuma, its sovereign and people, would not be uninteresting to even the 
most careless reader. I have, therefore, gathered from the letters of 
Cortez to the Emperor Charles the V., and the history of Bernal Diaz del 
Castillo, such accounts as appear to be most authentic, not only because 
they impress us with the grandeur and advanced civilization of the 
Indians, but because they may probably serve to establish a connection 
between the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico and the people who, 
dwelling farther south, were the builders and occupants of the temples 
and palaces which have lately been revealed to us 'in the picturesque 
pages of Stephens and Catherwood. 

" The province which constitutes the principal territory of Montezuma," 
(says Cortez in his letter to Charles the V.,) " is circular, and entirely sur- 
rounded by lofty and rugged mountains, and the circumference of it is 
full seventy leagues. In this plain there are two lakes which nearly oc- 
cupy the whole of it, as the people use canoes for more than fifty leagues 
round. One of these lakes is of fresh water, and the other, which is 
larger, is of salt water. They are divided, on one side, by a small col- 
lection of high hills, which stand in the centre of the plain, and they unite 
in a level strait formed between these hills and the high mountains, which 
strait is a gun-shot wide, and the people of the cities and other settlements 
which are in these lakes, communicate together in their canoes by water, 
without the necessity of going by land. And as this great salt lake ebbs 
and flows with the tide, as the sea does, in every flood the water flows 
from it into the other fresh lake as impetuously as if it were a large river, 
and consequently at the ebb, the fresh lake flows into the salt. 

" This great city of Temixtitlan, (meaning Tenotchtitlan, Mexico,) is 
founded in this salt lake ; and from terra firma to the body of the city, the . 
distance is two leagues on which ever side they please to enter it. 

" It has four entrances, or causeways, made by the hand of man, as wide 
as two horsemen's lan/'"s. 
10 



132 ' MEXICO. 

" The city is as large as Seville and Cordova. The streets (I mean the 
principal ones,) are very wide, and others very narrow; and some of the 
latter and all the others are one-half land and the other half water, along 
which the inhabitants go in their canoes ; and all the streets, at given 
distances, are open, so that the water passes from one to the other ; and 
in all their openings, some of which are very wide, there are very wide 
bridges, made of massive beams joined together and well wrought ; and 
so wide that ten horsemen may pass abreast over many of them." 

Bernal Diaz del Castillo gives the following accomit of the entry of 
the Spaniards into this city, on the 8th of November, 1519 ; the period 
of their first visit to Montezuma, and before they had treacherously ob- 
tained possession of the monarch's person. 

" We proceeded," says he, " by the great causeway, that runs in a 
straight line to the city. It was crowded with people, as were all the 
towers, temples, and causeways, in every part of the lake, attracted by 
curiosity to behold men and animals such as never before had been seen 
in these countries. When we arrived at a place where a small cause- 
way turns oft" to the city Cuyoacan, we were met by a great many of the 
lords of the court, sent, as they said, before the great Montezuma, to bid 
us welcome. 

" When we arrived near certain towers which were almost close to 
the city, Montezuma, who was then in the neighborhood, quitted his litter 
that was borne in the arms of the Princes of Tezcoco, Iztapalapa, Tacuba, 
and Cuyoacan, under a canopy of the richest materials, ornamented with 
green feathers, gold, and precious stones, that hung in the manner of fringe. 
He was most richly dressed and adorned, and wore buskins of pure gold 
ornamented with jeioels. The princes who supported him were dressed 
in rich habits, different from those in which they had come to meet us 
previously; and others, who preceded the monarch, spread mantles on 
the ground lest his feet should touch it. All who attended him, except 
the four princes, kept their eyes fixed on the earth, not daring to look him 
in the face." 

They entered the city. " Who," continues Diaz, " could count the 
multitudes of men, women, and children, who thronged the streets, canals, 
and terraces, and the tops of the houses, on that day ! 

" The whole of what I saw on this occasion is so strongly imprinted on 
my memory, that it appears to me as if it had happened only yesterday. 
Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us courage to venture on such 
dangers, and brought us safely through them !" 

Lodgings were provided for the Spaniards by the luxurious and lavish 
monarch — they were fed and entertained at his cost, and presents were 
made to all. " Montezuma," says the historian, " made signs to one of 
his principal attendants, to order his officers to bring him certain pieces 
of gold to give to. Cortez — together with ten loads of fine stuffs which he 
divided between Cortez and his captains, and to every soldier he gave 
two collars of gold, each worth ten crowns, and two loads of mantles ; and 



MOXTEZUMA. 133 

the gold amounted, in value, to upward of a thousand crowns ; and he gave 
it with an affability and indifference which made him appear a truly 
magnificent prince." 

He then proceeds, after some other details, to give an account of the 
personal appearance of this sovereign, and of the style and splendor oi 
his court. 

" The great Montezuma was, at this time, aged about 40 years, of good 
stature, well proportioned, and thin. His complexion was much fairer 
than that of the Indians ; he wore his hair short, just covering his ears, 
with veiy little beard, well arranged, thin and black. His face was 
rather long, with a pleasant mien and good eyes ; gravity and good-humor 
were blended together when he spoke. He was very delicate and cleanly 
in his person, bathing himself every evening. He had a number of mis- 
tresses of the first families, and two princesses, his lawful wives ; when 
he visited them, it was with such secrecy that none could know it except 
his own servants. He was clear of all suspicions of unnatural vices. 
The clothes which he wore one day he did not put on for four days after. 
He had set two hundred of his nobility as a guard in apartments adjoining 
his own. Of these only certain persons could speak to him, and when they 
went to wait upon him, they took off" their rich mantles and put on others 
of less ornament, but clean. They entered his apartment barefooted, 
their eyes fixed on the ground, and making three inclinations of the body 
as they approached him. In addressing the king they said, "Lord — my 
lord — great lord !'"' When they had finished, he dismissed them with a 
few words, and they retired with their faces toward him and their eyes 
fixed on the ground. I also observed, that when great men came from a 
distance about business, they entered his palace harefooted, and in plain 
habit ; and also, that they did not enter the gate directly, but took a circuit 
in going toward it. 

"His cooks had upward of thirty- different ways of dressino- meats, and 
they had earthen vessels so contrived as to keep them constantly hot. 
For the table of Montezuma himself, above three hundred dishes were 
dressed, and for his guards above a thousand. Before dinner, Montezuma 
would sometimes go out and inspect the preparations, and his ofiicers would 
point out to him which were the best, and explain of what birds and flesh 
they were composed; and of those he would eat. But this was more for 
amusement than anything else. 

" It is said, that at times the Jlesh of young children was dressed for him ; 
but the ordinary meats were domestic fowls, pheasants, geese, partridges, 
quails, venison, Indian hogs, pigeons, hares and rabbits, with many other 
animals and birds peculiar to the country. This is certain — that after 
Cortez had spoken to him relative to the dressing of human flesh, it was 
not practiced in his palace. At his meals, in the cold weather, a number 
of torches of the bark of a wood which makes no smoke, and has an aro- 
matic smell, were lighted; and, that they should not throw too much heat, 
screens, ornamented with gold and painted with figures of idols; were 
nlaced before them. 



134 MEXICO. 

" Montezuma was seated on a low throne or chair, at a table proper- 
tioned to the height of his seat. The table was covered with white cloths 
and napkins, and four beautiful women presented him with water for his 
hands, in vessels which they call xicales, with other vessels under them, 
like plates, to catch the water. They also presented him with towels. 

" Then two other women brought small cakes of bread, and, when the 
King began to eat, a large screen of gilded wood was placed before him, 
so that during that period people should not behold him. The women 
having retired to a little distance, four ancient lords stood by the throne, 
to whom Montezuma, from time to time, spoke or addressed questions, and 
as a mark of particular favor, gave to each of them a plate of that which 
he was eating. I was told that these old lords, who M^ere his near rela- 
tions, were also counsellors and judges. The plates which Montezuma 
presented to them they received with high respect, eating what was on 
them without taking their eyes off the ground. He was served in earth- 
enware of Cholula, red and black. While the King was at the table, 
no one of his guards in the vicinity of his apartment dared, for their 
lives, make any noise. Fruit of all kinds produced in the country, was 
laid before him ; he ate very little ; but, from time to time, a liquor pre- 
pared from COCO- and of a stimulative quality, as we were told, was pre- 
sented to him in golden cups. We. could not, at that time, see whether 
he drank it or not ; but I observed a number of jars, above fifty, brought 
in, filled with foaming chocolate, of which he took some that the women 
presented him. 

" At different intervals during the time of dinner, there entered certain 
Indians, humpbacked, very deformed, and ugly, who played tricks of 
buffoonery ; and others who, they said, were jesters. There wa^s also a 
company of singers and dancers, who affoi'ded Montezuma much enter- 
tainment To these he ordered the vases of chocolate to be distributed. 
The four female attendants then took away the cloths, and again, with 
much respect, presented him with water to wash his hands, during which 
time Montezuma conferred with the four old noblemen formerly men- 
tioned, after which they took their leave with many ceremonies.- 

" One thing I forgot (and no wonder,) to mention in its place, and that 
is, that during the time that Montezuma was at dinner, two very beautiful 
women were busily employed making small cakes* with eggs and other 
things mixed therein. These were delicately white, and, when made, 
they presented them to him on plates covered with napkins. Also anothei 
kind of bread was brought to him in long leaves, and plates of cakes re 
sembling wafers. 

" After he had dined, they presented to him three little canes, highly 
ornamented, containing liquid-amber, mixed with an herb they call to- 
bacco; and when he had sufficiently viewed and heard the singers, dancers, 
and buffoons, he took a little of the smoke of one of these canes, and then 
laid himself down to sleep, 

* No doubt tortillas, or maize cakes— still the staff of life with all the Indians, and, indeed, a favorite and 
daily food of all classes of Mexicanit. 



MONTEZUMA. 



135 



" The meal of the monarch ended, all his guards and domestics sat 
down to dinner; and, as near as I could judge, above a thousand plates of 
those eatables that I have mentioned, were laid before them, with vessels 
of foaming chocolate and fruit in immense quantity. For his women, 
and various inferior servants, his establishment was of a prodigious ex- 
pense ; and we wQt^ astonished, amid such a profusion, at the vast regu- 
larity that prevailed. 




"t^^Mfc^ 




MEXICAN ARMS. 



136 MEXICO. 

" His major domo was, at this time, a prince named Tapica ; who kept the 
accounts of Montezuma's rents m hooks which occupied an entire house. 

" Montezuma had two buildings filled with every kind of arms, richly 
ornamented with gold and jewels ; such as shields, large and small clubs 
like two-handed swords,* and lances much larger than ours, with blades 
six feet in length, so strong that if they fix in a shield they do not break ; 
and sharp enough to use as razors. 

" There was also an immense quantity of bows and arrows, and darts, 
together with slings, and shields which roll up into a small compass, and 
in action are let fall, and thereby cover the whole body. He had also 
much defensive armor of quilted cotton, ornamented with feathers in dif- 
ferent devices, and casques for the head, made of wood and bone, with 
plumes of feathers, and many other articles too tedious to mention." 

In this Palace, where the Emperor dwelt in almost oriental splendor, 
he had his gardens, and ponds, and aviaries. At Chapultepec, a hill on 
the west of the city, he owned another palace, amid groves, fountains and 
trees, and many of the cypresses with which the grounds were adorned 
still remain in all their vigor. Besides these, he had his menageries, 
where every species of wild beast, venomous serpent, curious fish, and 
bird of beautiful plumage, were gathered together and watched by innu- 
merable attendants. 

Soon after the arrival of Cortez in Mexico, he expressed to the Emperor 
a desire to see his city; and, with all becoming pomp and ceremony, 
(having first of all consulted his priests as to the propriety,) he took his 
future conqueror to the top of the great Temple, whence he beheld the 
splendor of the Indian capital. 

Streets, canals, shrines ; large and beautiful houses, amid groves and 
gardens; markets, where every luxury of fruit and vegetable was to be 
found ; aqueducts, which brought sweet water from the hills ; streets 
filled with artists who wove the most beautifully pictured garments from 
plumes of birds, or fashioned the precious metals into gorgeous orna- 
ments; — palaces, where the nobles dwelt in all the magnificence of bar- 
baric wealth ; — all these lay in splendor beneath him, while the land and 
water swarmed with an active but superstitious multitude, and the lakes 
beyond bore them across its silvery surface, dotted with floating gardens, 

* Called miqimhuitZ. They were composed of a stout club of wood, into the sides of which square and 
sharpened pieces of flint or obsidian were fastened at equal distances, as will be seen in figure A in the cut. 
They are described by Acosta as having been most formidable weapons ; and he declares that he has seen the 
skull of a horse cleft in twain by one of them at a single blow. The foregoing designs are taken either from 
ancient paintings, or from the arms themselves, preserved in the Museum at Mexico. Opposite to page 413, of 
Mr. Stephens's first volume of Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, there is a plate representing the sculptured figures 
on the jamb of a doorway from the ruins of Kabah. In the'tiands of a kneeling figure in the group, there is a 
weapon, which the reader, if he takes tiie trouble to compare the preceding drawing and the plate, will not fail 
to recognize at a glance, to be a miquahuitl. This incontestibly proves an identity of arms between the ancient 
Mexicans and Yucatecos ; and it proves something more, because it is known that these battle-axen were used 
by the Mexicans at the period of the conquest. 

The sculptured jiimb was removed from Yucatan by Mr. Stephens, and arrived safely in the United Statp'. 
It escaped the loss by fire of the rest of his valuable collection, but was thrown dovpn and broken by a careltv,s 
and inquisitive street passenger, while unloading from the car that conveyed it from the vesseL 



THE CONQUEST. 137 

to the foot of mountains, where the sunshine for ever warmed the fruits and 
flowers into vigorous life. 

Such was the city of Mexico, and the style of the Emperor; but it was 
not alone in externals, that the nation was great and powerful. It was 
regulated by good laws, well and speedily administered ; the relations of 
life were recognized and guarded ; it fostered a good system of education ; 
the arts were cultivated and encouraged ; architecture had advanced 
to a high degree of excellence ; the knowledge of astronomy, and of the 
calculation of time, was exact and scientific. The Aztecs were bold in war; 
they had built a vast Empire, springing from a sparse tribe which found 
its first home among the reeds and marshes of the lake where they had 
hidden for safety from their foes ; and, although their religious rites were 
brutal and bloody, they still had some glimmering ideas of an invisible 
and omnipotent God. It was a nation of splendid contradictions, where 
social elegance and comfort were almost unequalled, and yet where reli- 
gious brutality was quite as unparalleled. 

The sight of this splendid city was too tempting for Cortez — " The king- 
doms of the world were at his feet." He had resolved, before, to attempt 
the entire subjugation of this people ; and the view of this wealth only 
stimulated his resolution, while the bloody rites* of the Temple aided in 
exciting his ambition to give another land of idolatry to the control of the 
Holy Cross. 

He soon afterward seized the King, and, as some assert, caused him to 
be put to death, or to be so exposed that his death was inevitable ; yet, 
when tlie wonted spirit of the Mexicans was aroused, his troops were 
driven from the Capital. 

He returned with Indian allies. He invested the city with a sort of 
mimic navy, which he launched on the lake from Tezcoco ; and at length, 
after a severe struggle, the Capital fell into his hands. 

" What I am going to say is truth, and I swear, and say Amen to it !" 
(exclaims Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his quaint style :) "I have read of 
the destruction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the mortality 
there exceeded that of Mexico ; for all the people from the distant prov- 
inces, which belonged to this Empire, had concentrated themselves here, 
where they mostly died. The streets, and squares, and houses, and the 
courts of the Tlatelolcof were covered with dead bodies ; we could not 



* " The walls and pavements of this Temple," says Bernal Diaz, " were so besmeared with blood, that they 
stunk worse than all the slaughter-houses of Castile." Further on he says : " At the door stood frightful idols ; 
by it was a place for sacrifice, and within, boilers, and pots full of water, to dress the flesh of victims, which 
was eaten by the priests. The idals were like serpents and devils : and before them were tables and knives for 
sacrifice, tlie place being covered with blood which was spilt on those occasions. The furniture was like that 
ofa butcher's stall; and Inever gave this accursed building any name exceptthatof Hell ! In another temple 
were the tombs of the Mexican nobility. It was begrimed with soot and blood. Next to this, was another, full 
cf skeletons, and piles of bones, each kept apart, but regularly arranged." 

t Diaz, contrary to other writers, declares this to have been the site of tlie great Temple. It is nov? the site 
of the Convent of St. lago Tlaltelolco. 



188 MEXICO. 

step without treading mi them ; the lake and canals were filled with them, 
and the stench was intolerable. 

" When all those who had been able, quitted the city, we went to ex- 
amine it, which was as I have described ; and some poor creatures were 
crawling about in different stages of the most offensive disorders, the con- 
sequences of famine and improper food. There was no water ; the ground 
had been torn up and the roots gnawed. The very trees were stripped 
of their bark; yet, notwithstanding they usually devoured their prisoners, 
no instance occurred when, amidst all the famine and starvation of this 
siege, they preyed upon each other. The remnant of the population went, 
at the request of the conquered Guatimozin, to the neighboring villages, 
until the town could be purified and the dead removed." Cortez affirms, 
that more than fifty thousand perished. 

Nor was this all : there seems to have been a disposition, on the part 
of the conqueror, to obliterate the nation from the face of the earth. As 
his army advanced gradually into the town in the various attacks made 
upon it, the huildings were levelled to the ground ; but when the final con- 
flict had ended, the bigotry of the priesthood was added to the ferocity of 
the soldier, and hand in hand they went to the work of destruction. After 
they had secured every article of intrinsic value, — palace and temple were 
given up to ruin. The materials of which the houses of the nobles and 
wealthy citizens had been built, were used to fill the canals. Every idol 
was broken that could be destroyed, while those that were too large to be 
mutilated by the hand or by gunpowder, were buried in the lake or the 
squares ; and finally, every historical record, paper, and painting, that 
could be found, was torn and burned, with a fanaticism as ignorant and 
stupid as it was zealous and bigoted. 

From that time, of course, but little has descended to us, except a few 
fragments of manuscripts, which are now preserved in the royal collec- 
tions of Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and the Vatican ; the idols and images 
with which the Museum is filled ; and the magnificent ruins of Palenque, 
Uxmal, and Guatamala. 

It is impossible for us not to sympathize with the conquered in the 
fall and subjection of their Empire, notwithstanding the cruelty of their 
worship. Cortez was, at best, but a great pirate, around whom a troop of 
needy adventurers and brave soldiers had gathered, with all the appe- 
tite for conquest and the temper of freebooters. It is undeniable, that 
he was a man of extraordinary capacity. Brave, sagacious, cool, endu- 
ring, intrepid ; a statesman, orator, historian, soldier, poet ; he united in 
himself every manly attribute and accomplishment, and he added to them 
an indomitable resolution, which quailed as little before the magnitude 
or danger of an enterprise, as before the multitudes who were sent to 
encounter him. He was worthy of a better cause, and the founding of a 
greater empire. 

As for Montezuma, he seemed to have had a fatal presentiment of his 
country's destiny, from the period of his first interview with Cortez ; and 



THE CONQUEST. 139 

his luxurious habits of life, operating, most probably, upon a temperament 
naturally unresisting and indolent, induced him to allow a foothold to the 
Spaniards, who might have been crushed by his armies at a single blow. 
Instead of striking that blow, he indulged in recollecting the legends of 
his forefathers ; and scarcely had his future conqueror entered the Capital, 
when he hinted the fate to which his country was at last subjected. "It 
is long since we knew from our ancestors," said he. "that neither I nor 
all who inhabit their lands were originally of them, but that we are stran- 
gers, and came hither from distant places. It was said that a great lord 
brought our race to these parts and returned to the land of his birth, and 
yet, came back once more to us. But, in the mean time, those whom he 
first brought had intermarried with the women of the country ; and when 
he desired them to return again to the land of their fathers they refused 
to go. He went alone ; and ever since have we believed, that from among 
those who were the descendants of that mighty lord, one shall come to 
subdue this land, and make us his vassals f According to what you de- 
clare of the place whence you come, (which is toward the rising sun,) and 
of the great lord who is your King, we must surely believe that he is our 
natural lord." 

Cortez was by no means disposed to deny it ! 



LETTER XXI. 

MURDER OF THE SWISS CONSUL AT ST. COSME. TACUBA. FESTIVAL OF THE 
VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 



Let us return in this letter from the Past to the Present. 

The 28th of August was the festival of the Virgin of Remedios, and, 
accompanied by some friends, I went to an Indian village of that name 
about nine miles from the city, upon the first rise of the western mountains 
from the plain of the valley. In passing through the suburb of St. Cosme, 
(where many of the pleasantest residences in Mexico are situated, sur- 
rounded by tasteful gardens and fountains supplied by the adjacent aque- 
duct,) the house of M. Mairet, the Swiss Consul, was pointed out to us. 

This gentleman was a person of fortune, and lived at St. Cosme in a 
tasteful little bachelor establishment, where, according to the custom of 
this bankless country, he usually kept his money. Most of the dwellings 
in this quarter are strongly built, and the windows are generally pro- 
tected by iron bars, so that it would be difficult for robbers to effect an 
entrance, especially as the occupants usually keep a couple of strong and 
fierce dogs in the patio and on the azotea. 

One day, however, a coach drove to the front gate about noon, and a 
man, dressed in the habit of a priest with broad shovel-hat, descended 
from it accompanied by two others, and stated to the servant who admit- 
ted them, that they were exceedingly anxious to procure from Mr. Mairet 
a skin of parchment, in which article, I believe, he chiefly dealt. As 
soon as they were admitted within the gate, they locked it, seized the ser- 
vant, tied him to a pillar, and gagged him. They then proceeded to the 
house, where they found Mairet alone. They attacked him with knives, 
cut and wounded him severely, and forced him to disclose the place where 
he concealed his money. Having got possession of it, and rifled the house 
of everything valuable, they fled. Poor Mairet died of his wounds; and 
the robbers (but one of whom was discovered, tried and executed,) escaped 
with ten thousand dollars. 

This is one instance only of the crimes that are even yet often com- 
mitted throughout the Republic. 

In the year 1824, during the high times of old-fashioned bigotry in 
Mexico, a murder of the most appalling character occurred. 



MURDER OF AN AMERICAN. 141 

An American named Hayden resided there, and followed the trade of a 
shoemaker. He was a Protestant, but carefully observed all proper and 
decorous respect for the Catholic ceremonies and institutions of the coun- 
try. One day, the Host was passing his house to the dwelling of some 
dying person, with all the usual pomp and parade of ringing bells and 
chanting boys; and, as the shops are generally open to the street, Hay- 
den quietly arose from his work-bench, and coming forward, knelt on the 
sill of his door. He had scarcely prostrated himself, when a person (who 
is believed to have been an officei-,) accosted him, demanding in a rude 
tone " why he did not advance into the street and kneel ?" Hayden re- 
plied, that he thought it proper for him to kneel where he was. Scarcely 
had he uttered this when the soldier laid his hand on the hilt of his sword 
as if to draw. Hayden perceived this, and stepped toward his counter to 
seize a boot-tree for defence ; but before he could reach it, the soldier had 
plunged his sword through the poor man's back, directly into the heart, 
and he fell dead on the spot. 

An American, who was in the shop at the time, rushed to arrest the 
murderer and give the alarm, but the villain had fled — the crowd closed 
round him, no one pursued, and no one took means to recognize him ! 

Nor was this all. Difficulty was first experienced in obtaining per- 
mission from the authorities to bury our unfortunate countryman ; next, 
no coachman would take the body in his carriage, and the Consul was 
obliged to receive it in his private coach ; next, the funeral procession 
was pursued by a crowd, which, gathering in formidable numbers as the 
train moved along the streets of Plateros and San Francisco, pelted it with 
stones and other missiles, until Mr. Black (who is now our Consul in 
Mexico,) was obliged to halt the procession at the Accordada, and ask a 
guard of soldiers from the commanding officer as an escort to the grave 
at Chapultepec. The guard was given, ordered to load with ball-car- 
tridges, and as they departed the officer exclaimed — " Blessed is the land 
where there are no friars !" 

Notwithstanding the presence of the guard, the Consul was struck on 
the breast by a stone while reading the solemn service at the grave. 

Crowds had followed the funeral from the city, even to the distant 
graveyard ; and when they returned, it was rumored among the leperos 
that the " American had been buried with a quantity of clothing, bottles 
of wine, and money to pay the expences of his journey." This super- 
stitious tale had the due effect ; and although a man had been hired to 
watch the grave, yet soon after the interment it was broken open, and the 
body was found stripped of its clothes and flung naked on the ground. 
A reward of §2000 was offered by the foreigners, but no traces of the 
murderer or of the human hyenas were ever discovered. 



Ui 



MEXICO. 



FESTIVAL OF THE VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 

I WAS particularly tempted to witness the celebration of this festival, 
because it was strictly an Indian one, in which many of the old super- 
stitions of the tribes were mingled with the Catholic rites. 

The morning was beautiful, and, although there had been much rain 
the preceding night, the roads were dry and hard, and the whole face of 
nature looked sweet and clean. The road swarmed with people. The 
majority of these was of course composed of females, scarcely one of 
whom (from thirteen upward,) was without a baby strapped to her back j 
and all jogged along in that little trot which is peculiar to the movement 
of the Indians. 




INDIAN WOMEN AND INFANTS. 



VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 143 

Besides these, there were files of arrieros ; crowds of Indians, with 
charcoal in huge panniers on their backs ; others with turkies ; asses 
laden with hay — the hay covering the whole of the little animal so com- 
pletely, that at a short distance he looked like a self-movhig stack. Then, 
again, there was a better class of the natives, who had contrived to hire a 
couple of planks covered with a mat-awning, swung upon wheels, in the 
shafts of which they drove a lean and half-starved mule, — while among 
the crowd dashed our postillion, with his antediluvian vehicle. We 
were, in fact, the only foreigners on the road, except a band of valiant 
French hair-dressers, who, taking advantage of the holiday, had sallied 
forth with brightly shining guns and bloodless bags, to do execution on an 
army of snipes that lay behind its intrenchments of marsh and grass. 

The feast, I have said, is purely Indian in its celebration at this shrine. 
You will remember when the Spaniards were expelled from the city — on 
that dreadful evening, which has since passed into history by the name of 
the "noche triste," or ''sad night'' — that they retreated through the vil- 
lao-e of Tacuba, then an Indian town of some importance, and encamped 
on the adjacent heights. Some of the forces strayed still farther west- 
ward, and, quitting the shores of the lake, slept on the first rise of the 
mountains. There they passed a panic-struck night, and in the morning, 
a small doll, which had dropped from the knapsack of a Spanish soldier, 
(the bruised relic, doubtless, of some pet baby he had left at home,) was 
found on a maguey, or aloe. Lo ! it was proclaimed, by the finder, to be 
a miraculous image of the Holy Virgin — a token of approaching success 
and safety — and the doll was thenceforward sanctified ! When the Span- 
ish power became firm.ly fixed in Mexico, a church was built on the spot 
of the miraculous visit, and the shrine was endowed with the votive ofier- 
ings of the wealthy and superstitious. 

Having appeared to the soldiers just at the critical moment, she was 
called the Virgin of " Remedios," or Remedies — and from that day to 
this, she has been regarded as the special patroness of the ill, the un- 
happy, the sorrowful, and unlucky. If the " rainy season" does not come 
soon enough for the hopes of the Indian farmer, so that he can raise his 
corn and frijoles, she is prayed to. If it lasts too long, she is besought. 
If the small-pox, cholera, or fevers rage, she is the pious medicine ; 
and ever with success, because her image is generally brought to the in- 
fected district, from her healthy mountain country-seat, when the mal- 
ady is abating. It is said, however, that there was a mistake about her in 
the case of the last small-pox that prevailed in the Capital. She was 
produced too soon ! The convalescent came to return thanks ; those 
who had it in its incipient state, to be relieved ; and the healthful, to be 
spared entirely — the result was, a frightful spreading of the infection 
amono- the multitudes who prostrated themselves before the image. 

The church has, of course, made a fine revenue out of this miraculous 
power of the Virgin ; and I have been told that she was frequently rented 
out to the different parishes, at the rate of five or seven thousand dollars per 



114 MEXICO. 

diem, according to the emergency of the matter, and the faculty of the m- 
nabitants to pay. Disease being the most selfish of all demands upon a 
man's purse, he will more readily rid himself of its attacks by a fee and 
a prayer, than by a doctor and a nauseous dose. A piece of painted 
wood and an opportune ejaculation, are much more palatable than the 
nostrum and long face of even the kindest physician. 

After passing through the village of Tacuba, (now only remarkable 
for a few Indian remains, among which are part of a Mexican pyramid, in 
the rear of a fine church erected by Cortez, and a noble cypress, doubt- 
less of the days of Montezuma,) we ascended the hill among the increas- 
ing crowd of people on foot, in carts, on mules and horses. The church 
is surrounded by a few miserable huts of adobe, which scarcely merit the 
name of a village ; and as we approached the edifice we were forced to 
leave our carriage, on account of the dense crowd of leperos and Indians. 
I am confident, that not less than seven thousand were then upon the spot. 

There was but a narrow path to the church-gate, and on each side 
of it were stalls, tables, and mats of the humbler classes, covered with 
fruits, dried meats, and pulque — the latter of which, from the glibness of 
the tongue and the incessant hum of voices around, must have been pretty 
freely circulated. Gamblers, too, were not wanting : there was one fel- 
low with his dice, and a dozen with monte, — balls rolling ; cards shuffling ; 
venders crying their merchandise ; Indians chattering in the Mexican 
and Ottomy dialects ; the yell of a thousand squalling babies — and the 
bells tolling ! All combined to make a perfect Babel of noise, yet I am 
in considerable doubt whether my ears suffered more than my olfactories. 

I shouldered my way through the crowd, and entered the large court- 
yard in front of the church, which has once been a tasteful edifice, sur- 
rounded by a corridor, with a roof supported by stout columns, inclosing a 
beautiful garden. All is now in ruins, and the pillars of half the corridor 
lie in heaps in the corners, filled with filth and rubbish, with gigantic 
aloes growing in their crannies. 

From the steeple of the church to the top of the gateway, five ropes 
were stretched, and a large flower made of silk, in the shape of a pome- 
granate, was ascending and descending on each of them, drawn up and let 
down by men stationed on the azotea of the edifice. Among these flow- 
ers was an image of Juan Diego, the virtuous Indian to whom the Virgin 
presented the miraculous picture, which is now in the Sanctuary of 
Guadalupe. Juan, I imagine, was a sort of invited guest from one Virgin 
to the other, and seemed to enjoy himself vastly as he was jerked up and 
down on the rope by the Indians, who varied their task by an occasional 
pull at the bells. 

When we entered the church mass had not yet begun, and the edifice 
was comparatively empty. Indeed, 1 did not find it (except once during 
the day) very crowded with Indians, who seemed better satisfied with 
their goat-meat and pulque in the fresh air out of doors. 



VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 145 

The altar and the rail aroun i ii were, as usual, mad*^ of th'; precious 
metals, and aloft was placed an image of the Virgin, in a rich tibernacle. 
Candles were lighted around it, and some persons were chanting a servicr 
accompanied by the organ, while the Indians, in their rags, spread them- 
selves in kneeling groups over the floor. We passed into the sacristy 
where we met two Augustine monks, who were engaged in baptizing oi 
blessing a dirty Indian baby. The mother — in her torn tilma and petti- 
coat reaching to her knees — knelt before the padre holding the child, who 
amused itself by playing with his reverence's robe while the requisite 
prayer was recited. The father — in his leather breeches and torn 
blanket — meanwhile leaned against the wall, twirling his tattered hat, 
with open mouth, and eyes in a stupid stare of pious wonderment. As 
soon as the monk had concluded the service, he stepped forward, handed 
him a couple of cents, and both parents, with a sort of adoring kiss be- 
stowed on the friar's hand, departed. Our party comprised the only 
whites in that crowd of thousands. 

As soon as the padrecitos had got through their ceremonies over two or 
three more babies, and receiv'ed their copper fees, Mr. Black mentionea 
to them our desire to see the figure of the Virgin. A sacristan was imme- 
diately sent to conduct us to the room back of the altar, where, mounting 
to the tabernacle, and peeping cautiously around the shrhie, so as not to 
be seen by the congregation in the body of the church, we caught a 
glimpse of the figure. It is a beautiful waxen-faced doll, about a foot 
high, in a stiff satin dress, sticking out very much at the bottom as if with 
hoops, and the whole figure rests on an aloe of solid silver. I observed 
some pearls on the dress which had a very waxen look, together with 
some diamonds, that seemed quite as brilliant as if they had been manu- 
factured in Paris by the dozen. When I descended, I expressed my sur- 
prise to the half-breed attending us, who (with a very significant smile, 
and that indescribable motion of the long forefinger slowly from right 
to left, peculiar to the Mexicans, and which is as much as to say, " You 
know nothing about it,") explained the mystery. The real image was 
not there ! Diamonds, doll, pearls, petticoats, emeralds, and all the other 
finery had been taken to the Cathedral ; and he intimated, tliat in these 
revolutionary times so mi:ch wealth Avas more secure within hail of the 
palace sentinels, than air.id the lonely wastes of this mountain church. 
Besides which, he hinted that the present figure was hrndsoiner, newer, 
and, on the Avhole, good enough for the Indians ; who adcred it with quite 
as much fervor, and quits as successfully as the famed original. 

Wo sallied forth from the chapel as the mass commenced. Gradually 
the church began to fill with the half-naked Indian crowd. Deputations 
of natives from the diffeioat villages next arrived, bearing thfir off( wrings 
of flowers and wax candies to the Virgin; headed by a band of Indian 
musicians with their torn- om orum and flageolets, making a low c.ionot- 
onouii music. The ofi"e4ng5 were taken to tlie altar, under bennera 
made (if flowers : and af.er a wild dance of tl:e Indiang lo iheir music 



146 MEXICO. 

before the image, they were deposited in the sacristy. A constant sue 
cession of these oblations poured in until near two o'clock ; when the 
morning services being finished, the image was taken from the tabernacle 
and placed under a canopy, while a priest bore the consecrated wafer, and 
the procession began its march. All heads were at once uncovered, and 
I went to the upper story of the church to have a better view of the cere- 
mony. At the door of the church stood a ragged Indian, with a large 
firework on his head, made in the shape of a horse, surrounded with 
squibs and rockets ; behind him were five men and a woman from one 
of the villages, neatly dressed, their heads being covered with red 
silk or cotton handkerchiefs. The men bore thin staves in their hands, 
and small coops, made of cane, were strapped on their backs. The 
woman held a covered basket before her, and one of the men thrummed 
a guitar, giving forth the same monotonous tune of the flageolets and 
drum. As soon as the procession reached the portal, the whole crowd 
knelt, and a number of small rockets and cannons were fired by the In- 
dians. The huge flowers — which I have before described as ascending 
and descending on ropes from the' church tower to the gate — were pulled 
open by a secret spring, and a shower of rose leaves fell from them over 
the passing priests and images. Juan Diego's knees were herd by some 
equally secret machinery, and he continued on his slack-rope pilgrimage 
through the air. The flageolet and the drum were once more put into 
requisition, and the Indian with the horse-firework, accompanied by six 
others, began retreating in a trotting dance as the holy image approached 
— whirling and hopping to the barbarous music, ever careful to keep 
their faces to the Virgin. Suddenly, an Indian stole behind the one 
who bore aloft the firework, and touched its match. At this moment 
the bells began to chime, — and thus, amid their clang, the detonation 
of the squibs, cannons and rockets, and the loud cracking of the ex- 
ploding horse, the procession sallied from the court-yard to the village, 
to make a tour of the plaza among the gamblers, pulque shops, and fruit- 
sellers ; all of whom suspended their operations for the moment, and knelt 
to the sacred figure. 

After the return of the Vii-gin to the church, there was another grand 
explosion of fireworks on a wheel, and more cannons were discharged. 
The multitude then gathered together in groups, and made their frugal 
meal of fruits, dulce, tortillas, and the never-failing frijoles and chile. 
By four o'clock, the majority of the Indians had trotted off once more 
to their villages, some of which were at a distance of not less than twenty 
or thirty miles. 

The whole of the ceremony of this day, seemed to me nothing more 
than an Indian " corn-dance ;" and it is, no doubt, among the simple- 
minded Indians, a festival of thankfulness to God for the crops with which 
the bountiful seasons have blessed them ; in other words, a substitute for 
the sacrifices which they once made of fruits, flowers, and birds, to their 
goddess Centeotl. 



VIRGIN OF REMEDIOS. 147 

The fault is in the permission of these idolatrous rites, before the mock 
image of another image ; although it may perhaps be urged, that as the 
Catholic is the " blending of the rituals of many nations," there is no 
harm in these innocent Indians being allowed to mix up the relics of the 
worship of their fathers, so long as the whole service is offered in honor 
of the ever living God. 

During the morning, I climbed to the top of the church tower, through 
a swarm of Indians, who were hived in a set of mud-floored rooms around 
the inner court, and the upper portion of the sacred edifice, which they 
were allowed to occupy as a sort of public caravanserai during the 
period of their pilgrimage. Such masses of dirt, filth, and personal 
impurity, it is difficult even to imagine ; and I am happy to say, that 
with the exception of the festival at Guadalupe, it was the only exhibi- 
tion of the sort that I saw of the Indians while in Mexico. 

But I was repaid for my disgust on reaching the top of the church 
tower. The view was magnificent, as is, indeed, almost every prospect 
from the heights in this valley. The church stands alone, on the bleak 
unsheltered side of a mountain. Behind it the steeps rise rapidly, with 
deep glens descending from them, watered by many streams, and span- 
ned, in wild and solitary grandeur, by a lofty aqueduct of fifty arches. 
But to the east lay the lovely valley — its plain — its silvery lakes — and 
turreted city nestling on its borders ; while, far in the distance, more than 
forty miles away, rose the gray volcanoes, capped with their eternal snows 
and clouds. 

I cannot conclude an account of this Indian scene, without offering my 
testimony in favor of the temper and temperance of the natives. In all 
the scenes of that day, spent among so many thousand Indians, I saw but 
three or four at all intoxicated. There was neither fighting, nor quar- 
relling ', but all seem to have met together for the purpose of an annual 
frolic, and all carried it out in that pleasant spirit. The most tipsy 
man in the crowd was the Corregidor — an old, lazy, leather-breeched 
savage, who trotted among the multitude all day long, lecturing the In- 
dians 'on sobriety and good behavior. It was his misfortune, however, 
that the duties of his station carried him more frequently to the pulque 
shops than elsewhere, nor was he allowed to quit them without a parting 
glass, to which he was pressed by the numerous friends with whom all 
great men are afflicted. I left him hiccuping a lesson, and winking his 
eyes very slowly at an old Indian ; who, having been his predecessor in 
office, had fallen into disgrace from the potency of jpulque. It was the 
fatal misfortune of all the Corregidors ! 

I told you, in the previous part of these letters, that the true Virgin had 
been removed to the Cathedral in Mexico ; and that she stands in that 
temple on her shrine of silver, enjoying the title to three petticoats em- 
broidered with pearls, diamonds and emeralds. 

If she possesses the power to cure the maladies of others, she has not, 
alas ! the skill to heal her own. She is in a most dilapidated condition ! 
11 



148 MEXICO. 

Her whole height is not more than a foot, but you cannot number the 
scratches, knocks, and bruises, that her poor little frame has suffered ! 
Her color is gone — both her eyes, I believe, are out — her nose is knocked 
off, and there is rather a large hole in one corner of her mouth. The 
padres declare, that all who attempt to repair her charms sicken and die. 
Indeed, in the midst of all her finery and ornaments, she reminds one 
of some shrew of a spinster, who, after wasting her stock of charms on a 
thoughtless world, makes up for them on every public occasion, by a dis- 
play of lace and diamonds, hiding, if possible, each wrinkle by a gem. 



LETTER XXII. 

CIARNIVAL. LENT. HOLY WEEK. 

One of the gayest seasons in Mexico is that of the Carnival ; and 
although the amusements are not so numerous or splendid as those of 
Rome and Naples, yet there is more stirring life and more public exhi- 
bition of joy and pleasure than at other periods of the year, among this 
staid and reserved population. 

The theatres are converted into ball-rooms, and decorated with great 
taste ; masters of ceremonies are regularly appointed ; and the boxes are 
filled every night with the heau-monde — brilliant with diamonds — while 
the pit and stage are covered with groups of motley maskers. Within 
the few last years, the fashionables have refrained from participating in 
the ruses of masquerade ; and the floor has thus been abandoned chiefly 
to the French hair-dressers, pastry cooks, and milliners of the ccdle Pla- 
teros, who frisk about with as much gayety as if they were at the grand 
Opera of their beloved Paris. I went once or twice to witness these 
amusements ; but confess that I had quite enough of them, when, on ven- 
turing once to stand up in a quadrille with some unknown fair one, I 
found an unmasked negro (the leader of one of the orchestras in the city,) 
take the place of my vis-a-vis with a white woman ! I plead guilty to a 
prejudice against such exhibitions. 

The Carnival over — Lent is observed with considerable rigor until 
Holy Week. As the ceremonies of that season are not without their 
peculiarities, I will give you some descriptions of them ; and I know not 
how I can do so better than by extracts from my journal of the period. 



JOURNAL. 



\Sth March, Friday. This is the festival of the "Virgin of Dolores. 
It is impossible to trace many of the old customs of the Church, in a 
country where the ritual is often made up of so many odd and fantastic 
notions, except by supposing that the idea of the original founders was, to 
attract the Indians by as many new devices as they could ingraft upou 
theii regular services. 



150 MEXICO. 

On the festival of Mary, the mother of our Saviour, (who is worshipped 
here under so many metamorphoses,) the ceremonies are not alone con- 
ducted in the churches. There is scarcely a house in the city, where 
a little shrine is not erected, and adorned with a pi'ofusion of glittering 
ornaments and blooming flowers. Glasses and vases of colored waters 
flash amid innumerable lamps and wax candles; while the most splendid 
jewels of the mistress of the mansion adorn the sacred image. The 
floors of the dwellings are strewn with roses, leaving a path for visitors, 
and music and refreshments welcome all who are in habits of intimacy 
with the family. In this gorgeous display, there is considerable rivalry, 
and it is a feather in a family's cap to have its Virgin spoken of as — far 
excellence — the saint of the season. 



19^^ — Saturday. This is another festival — that of "£Z Castisimo 
Patriarca Sr. S. Josi, patron ■principal de la RepuUica,y N. Senora de 
la Piedady It is a festival, in other words, of San Jose and of the 
Virgin Mary, under another name. There were solemn services in the 
churches. 

30^/i — Palm Sunday. At eleven I went to the Cathedral, to hear 
high mass. The chief altar was shrouded with purple drapery, and 
all the ornaments were covered. The Archbishop sat under a velvet 
canopy fringed with gold, and the edifice was filled/ with a motley, palm- 
bearing congregation of ladies, leperos, cavaliers, and Indians. The ser- 
vice was odd. Two clergymen mounted pulpits on each side of the 
altar, while another took his stand in the middle of the steps leading to it. 
All had books before them, and palm branches in their hands, as had, 
also, the Archbishop and his suite of servitors. The priests in the pulpit, 
and the one on the steps, then proceeded to chant a sort of dramatic scene 
in badly pronounced Latin ; and the whole ended with wretched music 
from the choir and the organ. 

While this service was going on, there seemed to be great indifference 
in the demeanor of the well-dressed men. The ladies sat on the dirty 
floor, and with their books open before them, read away for very life ; 
ever and anon crossing their foreheads, mouths and bosoms; while the 
whole of the lo.wer classes stood by like the audience at some strange 
drama in an unknown language, which they thought as queer as it was 
unintelligible. The Indians, especially, who were grouped around the 
base of the columns, in all their usual dirt and rags, appeared particularly 
surprised at the Latin. Among the multitude, I could not help noticing 
an old, vicious-looking lepero, (a scarred veteran in crime and villainy, 
if we may judge by his countenance) who was extraordinarily zealous 
in pounding his breast, as if exorcising an evil and tormenting spirit. 



HOLY THURSDAY. 151 

After the ceremony was over, no one omitted going to the basins and 
sprinkling with holy water. The Indians, as usual, enjoyed this privi- 
lege greedily ; and after devoutly crossing themselves, spirted a quantity 
of the fluid in their eyes, and last of all, put a handfuU over their hair 
and faces. The infants, especially, came in for a wholesome ablution. 

2Srd. I went to the Cathedral this afternoon to hear the Miserire. It 
was a different affair from that of the Sistine Chapel, where the agonizing 
music is wailed out by the Pope's eunuchs. I only remained until four or 
five candles had been extinguished on the great candlestick of ebony, 
inlaid with silver. The music was execrable. 



24:th. This day, which is elsewhere perhaps the saddest and holiest 
to the spiritual-minded of Christ's Church — preparing the soul for the 
dreadful trials of to-morrow — is in Mexico one of the gayest of the season. 

From 10 o'clock in the morning, not a horse or vehicle of any sort is 
permitted to appear on the street, and all who venture abroad must do so 
on foot. In the olden time, this was no doubt intended to mark the day 
with peculiar solemnity ; both by dispensing with one of the most needful 
luxuries of the upper classes, and detaining the gay and fashionable at 
tiome, or inducing them to go on humble and prayerful pilgrimage to the 
churches. It is now, however, but an excuse for ostentation ; and as at all 
other seasons of the year fashion has made it imperative for no lady to 
walk the streets, so has fashion made it the rule for the sex to appear on this 
day, apparelled in all the splendor their purses will admit. Silks, satins, 
velvets, embroidery, lace, jewels, diamonds, ball-dresses, dinner-dresses 
— every species of vesture to attract attention and envy, and these again 
are changed several times in the course of the day ! For weeks previous 
the mantuamakers are all bought up — not a stitch is to be had for love 
or money — and, on Holy Thursday, the cunning of their needles is dis- 
played for once in the year to the rude and open air. 

The professed purpose of this display is to visit, on foot, seven of the 
churches— which are adorned with all their plate, jewels, flowers, and 
finery, for the occasion, while their floors are spread with the richest 
carpets. 

Although there is much that is singular to Protestants who are accus- 
tomed to a simple ritual, in the splendor of the Roman Church in Italy 
and France, yet there is always a picturesque fitness of the ceremony 
to the season, and there is an evident meaning in its dramatic effect, illus- 
trating the incidents of the time. In those countries, we can never free 
ourselves from the associations of the place and the ceremony upon which 
there are no corrupt grafts of heathenism. The rites at the altar are 
gorgeous, but chaste and beautiful ; the music is select, and suitable to 
the moment ; the temple in which you kneel, is hallowed by historical 
memorials ; the dead of hundreds of years — illustrious through all time — 



152 MEXICO. 

rest in the carved tombs around you ; and the master-pieces of the great- 
est artists realize once more, on their eloquent canvas, the triumphs of 
saints and martyrs. But not so here. The ritual is Indian, rather than 
civilized or intellectual. The show is tasteless and barbaric. The altars 
display a jumble of jewelry, sacred vessels, and utensils of the pre- 
cious metals mixed up with glass through which is reflected the tints of 
colored water, and the whole is overlaid with fruits and flowers. It is a 
mixture of the church and apothecary shop. Instead of the glorious pic- 
tures of the old masters, you have innumerable bad figures, badly drawn 
and worse colored, set in frames, the gilding and carving of which form 
the greatest attraction ; and in place of the airs of Mozart and Haydn, 
you have the music of the last Opera, and the favorite morceaux of Rob- 
ert le Diable. 



When the carriages cease to roll to-day, at ten o'clock, the hells are 
also silenced. Not a clapper is allowed to strike against bell-side until 
next Saturday. Yet, in order not to be without incessant noise in the 
streets, they have substituted rattles, and you scarcely meet a youth who 
has not one of these discordant instruments in his hand. The rattles are 
usually made of wood and bone, surmounted by the wax-figure of a bird, 
baby, or even, sometimes, a naked Venus; but for the higher classes they 
are of richly chased silver with tasteful ornaments, and become the fash- 
ionable presents of the season. 

The streets are alive with the gay throng, and I visited the churches 
of San Francisco, La Senora de Loreto, the Cathedral, Santa Clara, 
and the Profesa. San Francisco and La Prqfesa divide the fashionable 
world ; but the old Jesuits seem to have carried the day with the ladies. 

I took a seat on the benches, placed against the pillars which support 
the roof of the church, as I found it to be the custom for men to sit, while 
the aisle of the church is occupied by the kneeling females. When I en- 
tered the edifice there were but few at their devotions, but the crowd 
gradually increased, and in half an hour the building was filled with the 
gentle hum of a thousand lips in prayer. 

Near me knelt a lady, whose dress must have cost thousands in this ex- 
pensive country. She wore a purple velvet robe embroidered with whrte 
silk, white satin shoes, and silk stockings ; a mantilla of the richest white 
blonde lace fell over her head and shoulders, and her ears, neck, and fin- 
gers were blazing with diamonds. By her side, and almost touching, 
crouched an Indian, in rags scarcely sufficient to hide her nakedness, with 
wild dishevelled hair, bare legs, and a vacant stare from the gorgeous 
altar to the gorgeous dame ! And so, over the whole church, the floor 
was a checker-board of ladies and Uperos — of misery and pride ! 



RELIGIOUS EXHIBITIONS. 15.1 

At a little distance knelt a group of fashionable girls under the guar- 
dianship of their mamma, and followed by a female servant — a substitute 
for the old duena. After the sign of the cross and the bow to the altar, 
the two lines of beaux on each side of the edifice, first attracted the at- 
tention of the penitents ; but their prayer-books were immediately opened, 
the forehead, mouth, and breast were again crossed, and they hummed 
a prayer, with an occasional aside to mother or sister, in the midst of 
their devotion. After this mingled occupation of prayer, chatting, cross- 
ing, and criticism had been carried on for ten minutes, they closed their 
books, sank from their knees backward on the floor, and sitting thus on 
the boards, threw aside their mantillas so as to display a pet dimple or a 
pet diamond. Presently, remembering that there were other churches to 
visit, they rose slowly, and lounged off to another chapel to bring up the 
arrears of their aves and paters. 

I have thus sketched both the street- walking and church-praying of 
to-day, but there was one church which I must mention specially. The 
Chapel of " Nueslra Senora de Loreto'^ is situated some distance from the 
centre of fashion in Mexico, and is considered quite a pilgrimage by the 
pedestrians who walk but once a year. I visited it, both in the morning 
and at night. In the early part of the day, the crowd was small ; but 
after sunset it was almost impossible to effect an entrance, notwithstand- 
ing the doors and square in front were guarded by sentinels with fixed 
bayonets. 

The church was transformed into a grove of orange, lemon, and flower- 
ing shrubbery ; and the blaze of a multitude of wax torches was reflected 
from the altar, around which the twelve Apostles were seated at the 
Last Supper, amid a pile of silver and gold plate and jewels, arranged in 
a multitude of odd devices, not only on the table but from the floor to the 
ceiling. In grotesque contrast with all this splendor, there were common 
oranges sprinkled with tin foil, and twopenny glass decanters filled with 
dyed waters. 

As I entered from the front door of this edifice, the first thing that 
attracted my notice was a side altar converted into an arbor, in the centre 
of which was a well, with Christ and the woman of "Samaria beside it. 
The lady had been fitted out by a most fashionable mantuamaker, in a 
costume of blue satin picked out with pink, and while she leaned grace- 
fully on a silver pitcher, resting on the edge of the well, our Saviour 
stood opposite in a mantle of purple velvet, embroidered with gold, and 
covered with a Guyaquil sombrero I 

A short distance from this, in the place of another side altar, next to 
the chief one, was the representation of the entombment of our Lord. 
The body, swathed in linen, was laid in a glass coffin. " Mary the Mo- 
ther," dressed in a full suit of black velvet, with a fine cambric hand- 
kerchief in hand, stood among the shrubbery at its foot. In the foreground, 
two little urchins of waxen angelhood, also dressed in black velvet, 
(with black wings and skirts looped up in front, so as to display their 



154 MEXICO. 

neatly-turned ankles in richly- worked stockings, and somewhat more of 
the leg than befits other persons than opera dancers,) put themselves in 
• such an attitude, that you might naturally imagine they were in the act 
of pirouetting off to the music of a piano in the opposite corner, that gave 
forth the most fashionable waltzes and airs from the operas. Two dogs, 
(emblems, I suppose of " watchfulness,") but who did not seem to under- 
stand their duty very well, amused themselves, meanwhile, by wandering 
about among the pots and smelling at the flowers ! 



Retumins: from Nuestra Senora de Loreto, I found the streets crammed 
with people, among whom were crowds of ladies dressed quite as splen- 
didly as in the morning ; many of them still wore their diamonds, not- 
withstanding the imminent danger of robbery in such a concourse. The 
stores were all closed, the bells were silenced, and all was quiet but the 
hum of the crowd and the crack of the thousand rattles that filled the 
air like a meadow of grasshoppers. 

I went to the Profesa and found a similar display. I continued on to 
San Francisco, and there beheld the most tasteful and least childish of all 
these exhibitions. The walls of the church were hung with large pic- 
tures, portraying parts of the life of Christ ; and over the altar was a large 
architectural design, the outlines of which were marked with lights fast- 
ened on the canvas, so that the whole' picture seemed drawn with fire. 
The effect was novel and beautiful, and the better for a misty atmosphere 
in the church arising from the multitude of candles. 

In another of the seven chapels of San Francisco, a figure of our 
Lord, as large as life, was seated at the foot of the altar, crowned with 
thorns and bleeding at every pore ; while, at a side altar, was the Virgin, 
(again in becoming black velvet,) with a large straight svvord thrust 
through her -eart, and her eyes upturned like a dying Cleopatra. The 
crowd here v ds immense, and it was necessary to preserve order by sta- 
tioning guarc.s at all the doors. 

As I pas-^ed dovvn the street, I observed that numbers of booths had 
been erected at the principal corners and in the plaza. They are neatly 
made of reeds and matting, and their counters are woven over in front 
with sweet clover interlaced with flowers. Orgeat and other refreshing 
drinks only are sold in them, and in the whole throng of this day of idle- 
ness I have not met a drunken Indian or lepero. 

The Cathedral was also lighted up like the rest of the churches, and 
there was a similar display of ornaments. In the middle of the left aisle 
a silver altar had been erected, since yesterday, which reached nearly to 
the ceiling ; but it was tastelessly crowded with figures of saints and 
wooden pillars, painted to imitate marble. On this altar was displayed 
the Holy Sacrament during the period in which no consecration of the 
elements is permitted by the Church. 



INDULGENCES. I55 

At the doors of most of these sacred buildings ladies were seated, who 
received alms on large silver dishes, and rewarded you with a sweet 
smile ; but in the sacristy of the Cathedral a system of begging was car- 
ried on that I did not notice elsewhere. It was a regular fair for Indul- 
gences. 

The body of our Lord, in wax, was laid on a bier near the door as 
you entered from the Cathedral, and near it, another figure was set up, 
representing him as he came bleeding and wasted from the scourgers. 
Close to these two figures sat priests begging every passer for a donation 
in return for indulgences. " Ten years' indulgence for an alms to the 

Holy Sepulchre," said one of them, with the plate before him ; and 

^'twenty years' indulgence for an alms for the redemption of the faithful 
in captivity," shouted a tall blue-gowned Franciscan, who stood near the 
door as you went out, over-bidding his less liberal competitor between the 
figures. 

25th, Good Friday. The gay dresses of yesterday are exchanged for 
deep black, worn, by both men and women, and the day is celebrated by 
solemn services. I missed seeing the " descent from the cross," in the 
church of Balbanera, which is said to be performed by puppets, and to 
be admirably well executed. 

26th. This is the last day of the ceremonies, and at half-past nine 
in the morning the injunction was taken from the bells and carriages. 
The streets were of course immediately filled with all the equipages of 
the city, whose postillions only waited for the first sound from the church- 
towers, to dash out of their court-yards. The clang of the bells was in- 
cessant, and at the same moment, the air was filled with the smoke and 
explosion of myriads of crackers and fireworks, called "Judases" and 
" heretics'' extended on ropes across the streets. The multitudes of dogs 
with which the city is infested, scared at the unusual racket, howled 
along the streets, and the great amusement of the leperos was to trip the 
poor beasts with ropes as they dashed wildly over the crowded thorough- 
fares. And so ended in smoke, yells, jingling, carriage-rolling, horse- 
tramping, Judas-bursting, dog-tripping, and folly, this farcical caricature 
of the most awful event in the history of religion. In the vanity of per- 
sonal ostentation its effect is thrown away on the better classes, while it is 
entirely lost in the barbaric spectacle and tinsel show which are got up to 
bewilder and surprise the ignorant and low. 



LETTER XXIIl. 

THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF MEXICO. CHAPULTEPEC. TACTJBAYA, AND THE 
MURDER OF MR. EGERTON. ST. ANGEL. THE DESIERTO. 

1 HAVE intimated to you several times in these letters, that it is exceed- 
ingly dangerous to go out of the gates of the city of Mexico alone or 
unarmed. Indeed, a foreigner scarcely ever rides even as far as Tacu- 
baya without his pistols in his holsters and a trusty servant behind him. 

Skirting one of the aqueducts which terminates in the southern part of 
the city, you pass westward over the plain to Chapultepec — the "Hill 
of the Grasshopper." It is an insulated porphyritic rock, rising near the 
former margin of the lake, and is said to have been one of the spots 
designated by the Aztecs, as a place where they tarried on their emigra- 
tion from the north in search of a final resting-place, which was to be 
denoted by " an eagle sitting on a rock and devouring a serpent." 

At the foot of this solitary hill the plain spreads out on every side, in all 
the beauty of extreme cultivation, while a belt of noble cypresses girdles 
its immediate base. One of these trees still bears the name of " Mon- 
tezuma's cypress,"* and there is no doubt, from the remains of the gar- 
dens, groves, tanks and grottoes still visible about this beautiful spot, 
that it was one of the favorite resorts of the monarch and court of 
the Mexican Empire. The tradition is that the Emperor retired from t>e 
sultry city to these pleasant shades, which were filled, in his day, witn 
every luxury that wealth could procure or art devise. It would have 
been difiicult to select a spot better adapted for a royal residence. From 
the top of the modern Palace (now a military school) erected by the 
"Viceroy Galvez, there is a charming prospect over the valley and lakes. 
Tou sweep your eye around a border of gigantic mountains, while at the 
bottom of the hill cluster the dense groves of cypress — the genuine an- 
tiquities of Mexico — old, perhaps already at the period of the conquest. 
Nor is it the least agreeable association with these venerable relics, that 
they are unconnected with any of the bloody rites of religion, but are 
eloquent witnesses of the better portions of Mexican character. 

• It measnres 41 feet in circumference, and 51, over some excrescences. 



REVOLTING MURDER.,, 157' 

By a road leading south- westwardly from Chapultepee, at the distance 
of about a mile, you reach Tacubaya, a town somewhat celebrated in the 
history of Spanish diplomacy. It is a quiet country village, containing 
many delightful residences of the Mexican merchants, and is chiefly re- 
markable for a palace of the Archbishop surrounded by beautiful gardens 
and groves, from the azotea of v^^hich there is one of the finest views of 
the volcano of Popocatepetl and the neighboring mountain of Iztacci- 
huatl. 



On the 28th of April, 1842, the city of Mexico was thrown into com- 
motion by the recital of a dreadful double murder that had been committed 
on the previous night in this village. 

Mr. Egerton was an English artist — a landscape painter of great emi- 
nence — who had resided several years in the Republic, and had just 
returned again to the country from a visit to England, bringing with him 
a lovely young woman as his wife. After residing a few months in town, 
he rented a small establishment at Tacubaya, to which he repaired with 
his lady, and during the period that he remained there, but seldom visited 
the Capital. Yet he sometimes came in to see his brother, and on the 
evening of the day preceding the fatal event, he left the city on his return 
home. 

As soon as he reached Tacubaya, he went out accompanied by his wife, 
to take their usual evening walk ; and this is the last that is known of them 
with any certainty. In the course of the night, the little dog that usually 
followed them in their rambles returned to the house alone. 

On the morning of the 28th, some p^ons, who were going from the vil- 
lage to work in the fields, discovered Mr. Egerton's body lying on the 
road. The spot was soon thronged by the villagers, and, after a thorough 
search in the neighborhood, the body of his wife was found in an adjoining 
field of aloes. 

Those who saw the shocking sight, describe it as the most horrible they 
ever beheld. Egerton had evidently been slain, after a severe struggle j 
a rattan, which he still held firmly in the grasp of death, was cut and 
broken ; his body was pierced with eleven wounds, and, though he had 
been dead near eight hours when discovered, his teeth were still clenched 
as if in anger, his eyes wide open, and his hair stiff on end ! The poor 
lady was stripped naked, with the exception of her stockings and shoes ; 
one wound, as if with a small-sword, penetrated her right breast ; marks 
of strangulation were around her throat ;. her stomach was bitten, and 
she had evidently been violated. 

It is impossible to describe the horror with which all classes in Mexico 
received this dreadful tale. The British Minister and Consul, and Mr, 
Egerton's brother, immediately instituted the most diligent search for the 
perpetrators of these crimes ; but, although several men were arrested, the 
monsters remain to this day undetected. 



158 MEXICO. 

A small vvooden cross, near a tangled thicket, adjoining a ruined church, 
marks the fatal spot, and bears an inscription imploring your prayers for 
the murdered pair. 



In a nook at the northwest corner of the city of Mexico, as you pass 
out of the gate of St. Cosme, is the English Burying-ground, bowered 
among trees and flowers toward the town, and open, with a sweet lowland 
prospect, toward the setting sun ; and here were deposited, side by side, 
the unfortunate victims. Few spectacles have ever been more sorrowful, 
than the group of " strangers in a strange land," who gathered around 
the grave of their murdered friends on the melancholy evening of their 
interment. 



At the distance of a few feet from them, repose the remains of Wil- 
liam McClure, a countryman, dear to American science. The Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, of which he was so long the 
President and benefactor, erected a small marble monument over his 
grave, and surrounded it with an iron rail. A short time before I left 
Mexico, the rail was torn down, the monument upset, and, on the same 
night, the newly-buried body of a Scotchman was disinterred, stripped of 
its clothes, and thrown over the wall of the cemetery ! 



ST. AUGUSTIN— ST. ANGEL— EL DESIERTO. 

St. Augustin is another village of which I have already spoken ; and 
St. Angel is one of nearly the same character, except that the views from 
its azoteas over the valley and city, are perhaps more beautiful. 

The pleasantest ride, however, about the vale or its adjoining moun- 
tains, is to the ruins known as " El Desierto," or the Desert ; the remains 
of an abandoned Carmelite convent, built among the rocky recesses of the 
western Sierra. 

It is a fashionable ride of about seven leagues, and parties of gentle- 
men, and even ladies, make it a resort for agreeable pic-nics. The edi- 
fices were built between two hills, and are now going rapidly to decay, 
yet there are some remains of cells which still retain their coverings, 
while the main buildings are unroofed and almost choked with luxuriant 
trees and flowering shrubbery. 

Thomas Gage, a converted mojik, who visited Mexico about the end of 
the first century after the conquest, gave an account of this convent in 
1677, when it was in its days of glory. 



ELDESIERTO. 159 

" The pleasantest place," says he, " of all that are about Mexico, is 
called La Soledad, and by others El Desierto — the Solitary, or Desert, 
place. Were all wildernesses like it, to live in a wilderness would be 
better than to live in a city ! This hath been a device of poor Fryers 
named discalced, or barefooted Carmelites, who, to make show of their 
apparent godliness, and that while they may be thought to live like 
Eremites, retired from the world, they may draw the world unto them, 
they have built there a stately cloister, which being upon a hill and 
among rocks makes it more to be admired. About the cloister they have 
fashioned out many holes and caves, in, under, and among the rocks, like 
Eremites' lodgings, with a room to lie in, and an oratory to pray in, with 
pictures and images, and rare devices for mortifications, as disciplines of 
wire, rods of iron, hair cloths, girdles with sharp wire points to girdle 
about their bare flesh, and many such like toys which hang about their 
oratories, to make people admire their mortified and holy lives. 

" All the eremitical holes and caves (which are some ten in all) are 
within the bounds and compass of the cloister and among gardens and 
orchards full of fruits and flowers, which may take up two miles' compass ; 
and here among the rocks are many springs of water, which, with the 
shade of the plantains and other trees, are most cool and pleasant to the 
Eremites ; they have, also, the sweet smell of the rose and jasmine, which 
is a little flower, but the sweetest of all others ; there is not any other 
flower to be found that is rare and exquisite in that country which is not 
in that wilderness, to delight the senses of those mortified Eremites ! 

" They are weekly changed from the cloister ; and when the week is 
ended, others are sent, and they return unto their cloister ; they carry 
with them their bottles of wine, sweetmeats, and other provision; as for 
fruits, the trees about do drop them into their mouths. 

" It is wonderful to see the strange devices of fountains of water which 
are about the gardens ; but much more wonderful to see the resort of 
coaches, and gallants, and ladies,, and citizens from Mexico thither, to 
walk and make merry in those desert pleasures, and to see those hypo- 
crites whom they look upon as living saints, and to think nothing too 
good for them to cherish them in their desert conflicts with Satan. No 
one goes to them but carries some sweetmeats or other dainty dish, to 
nourish and feed them withal ; whose prayers they likewise earnestly 
solicit, leaving them great alms of money for their masses ; and above 
all, offering to a picture in their church, called " Our Lady of Cakmel," 
treasures of diamonds, pearls, golden chains, and crowns, and gowns of 
cloth of gold and silver. 

"Before this picture did hang, in my time, twenty lamps of silver; the 
worst of them being worth a hundred pounds." 

Of all these cool retreats — these quiet haunts for monkish mortification 
— the abodes, at once, of humility and pride — nothing now remains but 
heaps of ruins, marking the former cloisters and hermitages. But time 
has been unable to destroy the magnificent prospect that bursts upon the 



160 MEXICO. 

traveller as he emerges from between the hills where the buildings are 
nestled. You stand nearly a thousand feet above the valley, and, in the 
pure and rarefied air of the mountains, the vision is almost unlimited 
over a world-like panorama of crag, lake, city, vale, and volcano. I 
have already described the view from the opposite point of the' moun- 
tains, as you approach Mexico from the east, and I shall therefore 
not detain you with what could at best but amount to an amplified cata- 
logue of picturesque features in the most charming landscape of the 
world. 



JOURNAL OF A JOURNEY 

IN THE 

TIERRA CALIENTE:, 

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO 

CUERNAVACA, THE RUINS OF XOCHICALCO, THE 

CAVERN OF CACAHUAWAMILPA, CUAUTLA 

DE AMILPAS, 

AND SEVERAL 

MEXICAN HACIENDAS OR PLANTATIONS. 



17th September, 1842. This is still the rainy season in the Valley 
of Mexico, and the clouds which have hung around the valley for some 
weeks past, pouring out their daily showers, seem to forbid our depar- 
ture upon an expedition which I have contemplated making before I 
leave Mexico ; but as the period of my departure is rapidly approaching, 
I find it necessary to embrace the opportunity presented by the protection 
of a party of gentlemen who design visiting, during the next two weeks, 
some of the most interesting portions of Tierra Caliente, south of the Val- 
ley of Mexico. It strikes me, too, that as the mountains which surround 
this valley are the highest in Mexico, it is more probable that the stormy 
clouds, driven up by the north winds from the sea, gather and are at- 
tracted by these heights, and consequently expend themselves over the 
nearest plains ; — the adjoining valleys which are lower than this, are 
likely, therefore, to be free from the continual deluge of water with which 
we have been visited for the last two months. 

Our preparations have accordingly all been made to set out to-day, 
about four o'clock. 
12 



162 



MEXICO, 



ST. AUGUSTIN DE LAS CUEVAS. 

At three o'clock the court-yard of our houses presented the appearance 
of a cavalry barrack ; — saddles, sabres, pistol-holsters, huge spurs, whips, 
baggage, horses, and servants. By four o'clock we had all rendezvoused 

at the dwelling of Mr. G , in the Calle del Seminario. Our party is 

composed of seven, among whom are Mr. Black the American Consul, 
and Mr. Goury du Roslan, the Secretary of the French Legation ; the 
rest are chiefly Scotch gentlemen, engaged in commerce in Mexico. 
Two mules have been hired and laden with a good store of provant — 
such as hams, corned- beef, portable soups, sausages, sardines, and wine, 
and these are put under the charge of an arriero, who, with my servant, 
and two other servants of our companions, make up a company of eleven, 
all mustered. 

Few things can be more complete for all weathers and all seasons, than 
the outfit of a Mexican horseman. He has everything that can contri- 
bute to the comfort or necessity of the passing hour, strapped to some part 
of his horse or his usual equipments. 




MEXICAN S£BAF£ 



MEXICAN HORSEMAN 



163 



First of all, he has his broad-brimmed, steeple-crowned Sombrero, cov- 
ered with oilskin ; next, his short leathern jacket, fancifully embossed 
with plated nails, like the old buff-coats of the feudal freebooters ; then, 
his leather trowsers with rows of buttons at the seam, preventing the 
chafing of the saddle, and his leggings to protect his feet and ankles ; in 
front of him are his armas de agua, a large skin cut in two parts, the 
ends of which on one side are fastened to the saddle-bow, the other two 
being tied behind him, so that his legs are entirely protected from rain ; 
before them, again, are strapped his pistols, while, passing beneath his 
left leg, rests his trusty toledo. From the peak, in front, hangs his lasso, 
a long running-noose with which he catches his horse in the morning ; 
and behind him is strapped his serape, or blanket-cloak, with a slit in the 
middle, which he throws over his head when it rains or is cold, and 
protects him from the weather as by a perfect thatch. 




MEXICAN HORSEMAN. 



Thus mounted on his high-peaked Spanish saddle, with stiff wooden stir- 
rups, over which are long ears of leather, — and his feet armed with ths 



164 



MEXICO. 



huge Spanish spur, to which is attached a small ball of finely-tempered 
steel, that strikes against the long rowels at every tread of the man or 
beast, and rings like a fairy bell, 




MEXICAN SPUR. 



you have a complete picture of a Mexican horseman, equipped at every 
point and ready for the road. If he has to fight, he has his weapons ; if 
to feed, he has his laden mule ; if it rain, he dons his serape and armas 
de agua, and rides secure from storm and wind ; and if he arrives at an 
Indian hut, after a long and toilsome journey, and no bed is ready to re- 
ceive him, he spreads the skins on the earthen floor — his saddle is his pil- 
low, and his blanket a counterpane. He is the compendium of a perfect 
travelling household. 

In this guise were most of us equipped when we mustered in the great 
square — except, that for leathern jackets, we had substituted blue cloth, 
and had strapped our scrapes on the pillions behind us. 

All were punctual to the minute, and the arriero, together with Gomez, 
and Antonio, the two other servants, were sent on to the Garrita, to pass 
our carga mules. Gomez was a stanch, wooden-faced old ti'ooper, who had 
done good service in the troublous times in Mexico ; Ramon, a Spaniard, — 
a thin, hatchet-visaged, boasting, slashing rogue, — who had fought through 
many a guerilla party of the Peninsular war ; and Antonio, a sort of 
weazened supernumerary, with a game leg, a broken nose, a toothless up- 
per gum, a devilish leering eye, and a pepper-and-salt cur as worthless 
as his master, who amused himself during the whole of our journey by 
running bulls, tearing sheep, worrying fowls, and taking twice as much 
exercise as was necessary. 



A TROPIC STORM. 165 

A party in better spirits never set out. We had the prospect of relax- 
ation, the sight of something novel, and the hope of propitious skies. 

As the Cathedral clock struck four we put our animals in motion^ — sed 
vana spes / A cloud, which had been for some time threatening, opened 
its bosom. In a moment our serapes were on, the armas de agua tied 
round our waists, and the storm of wind and rain was upon us. We con- 
soled ourselves by thinking it was only the baptism of the expedition. 

At the city gate the guard of Custom-house officers wished to charge 
an export duty on our wine, but our passes from M. de Bocanegra and 
the Governor saved us, and we launched forth on the road to St. Augus- 
tin, with the shower increasing every minute. It is useless to say more 
of this dreary evening. For three hours the rain was incessant ; and 
that the rain of a tropical storm, accompanied by wind and lightning. 
The water flowed from our blankets like spouts. The road over the 
plain was no longer a highway but a water-course, rushing and gurgling 
over every descent. The poor Indians returning from market paddled 
along, shrouded up in their petates. There was no conversation in the 
company. Every one was sulky, and felt a very strong disposition to 
return home and start fair with dry skies to-morrow ; but it was decided 
to push on. Finally, one of our carga mules, with all the provant, 
tumbled over in the mud, and tried to kick himself clear from his load ; 
the arriero, however, was directly over him with his long whip, showering 
blows on head and haunches until he again set him in motion for the 
village. 

It was quite dark when our cold, weary, and uncomfortable party en- 

tered St. Augustin, and knocked at the gate of Mr. M 's country. 

house, where we were to stay for the night. We hoped to find everything 
duly prepared for our reception ; and among our hopes, not the least was 
for a blazing fire to dry our bespattered garments. We came up to the 
door, one by one, silently and surlily. We were not only angry with the 
weather, but seemed to be mutually dissatisfied. After a deal of thump, 
ing, the door was slowly opened, and instead of the salutation of a bril- 
liant blaze in the midst of the court-yard — one miserable, sickly tallow 
candle made its appearance ! A colder, damper, or more uncomfortable 
crew never reunited after a storm ; and we found, notwithstanding the 
usual protection of Mexican blankets, Mexican saddles, and armas de 
agua, that the rain had penetrated most of our equipments, and that we 
were decidedly damp, if not thoroughly drenched. 

We entered the house after disposing of our accoutrements in a large 
hall, and found quite comfortable quarters and beds enough for all par- 
ties. A change of dress, a glass of capital Farintosh, (which was pro- 
duced from the capacious leathern bottle of Douglas,) and a cut at the 
ham, with a postscript of cigars, set us all to rights again ; and at eleven 
o'clock, as I write this memorandum, the party are singing the chorus of 
a song to Du Roslan's leading. 



166 MEXICO. 

Sunday,l8th. I was asleep last night in five minutes, nor did I awake 
until aroused at 5 o'clock by the loud pattering of the rain against the 
shutters. Cold, gray, cheerlessly, the day broke ; and as cold and 
cheerlessly did we assenmble in the kitchen to take our chocolate. A 
council was held as to proceeding or waiting for better weather. 1 ad- 
hered to my theory, that the rain was confined to the Valley of Mexico ; 
and that when we had passed the mountains in this day's journey, we 
would find it dry and pleasant travelling in the warmer and lower coun- 
try. At any rate there was something consolatory in the hope. Tiie horses 
were accordingly ordered, the damp dresses packed, our scrapes wrung 
out, and the mules freighted for the day. 

As the bells were ringing for mass, and the villagers hurrying through 
the streets to church, we sallied forth, every man trying to discover the 
symptom, even, of a break among the dreary brownish clouds that hung 
low from the mountain-tops to the valley. 

As soon as the road leaves the town of St. Augustin, it strikes directly 
up the inountain, and runs over crags and ravines which in our country 
would startle the delicate nerves of a lady. Railroads and McAdam 
have spoiled us ; but here, where the toilsome mule and the universal 
horse have converted men almost into centaurs and are the traditionary 
means of communication, no one thinks of improving the highways. 
But, of late years, diligences are getting into vogue between the chief 
cities of the Republic ; and one, built in Troy, has been started on this 
very road. How it gets along over such ruts and drains, rocks and moun- 
tain-passes, it is difficult to imagine ! 

On we went, however, over hill and dale, the misty rain still drifting 
around us, and becoming finer and mistier as we rose on the mountain. 
The prospect was dreary enough, but in fine weather, these passes are 
said to present a series of beautiful landscapes. In front is then beheld 
the wild mountain scenery, while, to the north, the valley sinks gradually 
into the plain, mellowed by distance, and traversed by the lakes of Chalco 
and Tezcoco. Of the former of these we had a distinct view as the wind 
drifted the mist aside for a moment, when we had nearly attained the 
summit of the mountain. Here we passed a gang of laborers impressed 
for the army, and going, tied in pairs, under an escort of soldiers, to 
serve in the Capital. This was recruiting f Further on, we passed the 
body of a man lying on the side-path. He had evidently just died, and, 
perhaps, had been one of the party we had encountered. No one no- 
ticed him ; his hat was spread over his face, and the rain was pelting 
on him. 

We saw no habitations — no symptoms of cultivation ; in fact, nothing 
except rocks and stunted herbage, and now and then, a muleteer, a mis- 
erable Indian plodding with a pannier of fruit to Mexico, or an Indian 
shepherd-boy, in his long thatch-cloak of water-flags, perched on a crag 
and watching his miserable cattle. We were then travelling among the 
clouds, near 9000 feet above the level of the sea. 



COUNTRY HOTEL, 



167 




INDIAN WITH PANNIER, 



INDIAN SHEPHEBP 



After about four hours' journey in this desolation, the clouds suddenly 
broke to the southward, revealing the blue sky between masses of sullen 
vapor, and thus we reached our breakfasting house on the top oi the 

mountain. „ , , r ..u * 

Imao-ine a mud-hole, (not a regular lake of mud, but a mass of that 
clayey^ oozey, grayish substance, which sucks your feet at every step,) 
surrounded by eight huts, built of logs and reeds, stuck into the watery 
earth and thatched with palm leaves. This was the stage breakfastmg 
station, on the road from Mexico to Cuernavaca ! We asked for " the 
house •" and a hut, a little more open than the rest, was pointed out. It 
was in two divisions, one being closed with reeds, and the other entirely 
exposed, along one side of which was spread a rough board supported on 
four sticks covered with a dirty cloth. It was the principal hotel f 

There was no denying that prospects were most unpromising, but we 
were too hungry to wait longer for food. We asked for breakfast, bm 



168 MEXICO. 

the answer was the slow movement of the long forefinger from right to 
left, and a " No hai !" 

"Any eggs?" 

"No'hai!" 

"Any tortillas?" 

" No hai." 

" Any pulque ?" 

" No hai." 

" Any chile ?" 

''No hai." 

"Any water?" 

« No hai !" 

" What have you got then ?" exclaimed we, in a chorus of desperation. 

"iVacZa.^"— nothing! 

We tried to coax them, but without effect ; and, at length, we ordered a 
mule to be unladen, and our own provisions to be unpacked. This pro- 
duced a stir in the household, as soon as it became evident that there was 
to be no high bid for food. 

In a moment a clapping of hands was heard in the adjoining room, 
and I found a couple of women at work, one grinding corn for tortillias, 
and the other patting them into shape for the griddle. There were 
two or three other girls in the apartment, and, taking a seat on a log, and 
offering a cigarrito to each of them, I began a chat with the prettiest, 
while the tortillas were cooking. A cigarrito, a-piece, exhausted, and 
with them, half-a-dozen jokes, I offered another to each of the damsels, 
and found them getting into better humor. At length, one arose, and af- 
ter rummaging among the pots in a corner, produced a couple of eggs, 
which she said should be cooked for me. I thanked her, and by a lit- 
tle persuasion, induced her to add half a dozen more for the rest of the 
party. By the time that the eggs were boiled and the tortillas baked, I 
suggested that a dish of moll^ de guagelote would be delicious with them, 
and felt sure that a set of such pretty lasses must know how to make it. 
"Quien sabe ?" said one of them. "Was there not some left from this 
morning ?" said another ; and they both arose at once and looked again 
into the pots. The result was the discovery of a pan heaped with the 
desired turkey and chile, and another quite as full of delicious frijoles. 
These were placed for five minutes over the coals, and the consequence 
was, that out of " Nada" I contrived to cater a breakfast that fed our 
company, servants, and arriero, and which would have doubtless fed the 
mules also, if mules ever indulged in chiU. I never made a heartier 
meal, relishing it greatly in spite of the dirty table-cloth, the dirty women, 
the dirty village, and the fact that my respected tortilla-maker, while en- 
gaged in her laudable undertakings, had occasionally varied the occu- 
pation, by bestowing a pat on the cake, and another, with the same hand, 
on the most delicate portion of the leather-breeches of a brat who annoyed 
her by his cries and his antics. I shall long remember those girls, and 



VALE OF CUERNAVACA. 169 

the witchcraft that lies in a little good-humor, and a paper of cigarritos. 
Let no one travel through a Spanish country without them. 



About one o'clock, we had again mounted, and riding along a level 
road which winds through the table-land of the mountain-top, we passed 
the Crtjz del Marqtjez, a large stone cross set up not long after the 
conquest, to mai'k the boundary of the estate presented by Montezuma 
to Cortez. At this spot the road is 9,500 feet above the level of the 
sea, and thence commences the descent of the southern mountain-slope 
toward the Vale of Cuernavaca. The pine forest in many places is 
open and arching like a park, and covers a wide sweep of meadow 
and valley. The air soon became milder, the sun warmer, the vege- 
tation more varied, the fields less arid — and yet all was forest scenery, 
apparently untouched by the hand of man. In this respect it presents a 
marked difference from the mountains around the Valley of Mexico, where 
the denser population has destroyed the timber and cultivated the land. 

This road is remarkable for being infested with robbers, but we fortu- 
nately met none. We were probably too strong for the ordinary gangs — 
some fifty shots from a company of foreigners, with double-barrel guns 
and revolving pistols, being dangerous welcome. At the village where 
we breakfasted, there was an ugly-looking band of scoundrels who hung 
around our party the whole time we remained there, watching our mo- 
tions and examining our arms. I cannot conceive a set of figures better 
suited to the landscape that village presented, than these same human 
fungi, who had sprung up amid the surrounding physical desolation, and 
flourished in moral rottenness. Every man looked the rascal, with a 
beard of a month's growth, slouched hats, from under which they scowled 
their stealthy side-glances, sneaking, cat-like tread, and muffled cloaks 
or blankets, that but badly concealed the hilts of knives and machetes. 
None of these gentlemen, however, pursued or encountered us. 

After a slow ride during the afternoon, we suddenly changed our 
climate. We had left the tierras frias, and tierras templadas, (the 
cold and temperate lands,) and had plunged at once, by a rapid descent 
of the mountain, into the tierra caliente, where the sun was raging with 
tropical fervor. The vegetation became entirely different and more luxu- 
riant, and a break among the hills suddenly disclosed to us the Valley ot 
Cuernavaca, bending to the east with its easy bow. The features of this 
valley are entirely different from those of the Valley of Mexico, for, although 
both possess many of the same elements of grandeur and sublimity, in 
the lofty and wide-sweeping mountains ; yet there is a southern gentleness, 
and purple haziness about this, that soften the picture, and are wanting 
in the Vale of Mexico, in the high and rarefied atmosphere of which every 
object, even at the greatest distance, stands out with almost microscopic 



170 MEXICO. 

distinctness. Besides this, the foliage is fuller, the forests thicker, the 
sky milder, and everything betokens the sway of a bland and tropical 
climate. 

A bend of the road around a precipice, revealed to us the town of 
Cuernavaca, lying beyond the forest in the lap of the valley, while far in 
the east the mountains were lost in the plain, like a distant line of sea. 
Our company gathered together, on the announcement of the first sight of 
our port of destination for the night. It was decided, by the novices in 
Mexican travelling, that it could not be more distant than a couple of 
leagues at farthest ; but long was the weary ride, descending and descend- 
mg, with scarcely a perceptible decrease of space, before we reached 
the city. 

In the course of this afternoon we passed through several Indian vil- 
lages, and saw numbers of people at work in the fields by the road side. 
Two things struck me : first, the miserable hovels in which the Indians 
are lodged, in comparison with which a decent dog-kennel at home is a 
comfortable household ; and second, the fact that this, although the Sab- 
bath, was no day of repose to these ever- working, but poor and thriftless 
people. Many of the wretched creatures were stowed away under a 
roof of thatch, stuck on the bare ground, with a hole left at one end to 
crawl in f 

What can be the benefit of a Republican form of government to masses 
of such a population ? Th.ey have no ambition to improve their condi- 
tion, or in so plenteous a country it would be improved ; they are con- 
tent to live and lie like the beasts of the field ; they have no qualifications 
for self-government, and they can have no hope, when a life of such toil 
avails not to avoid such misery. Is it possible for such men to become 
Republicans ? It appears to me that the life of a negro, under a good 
master, in our country, is far better than the beastly degradation of the 
Indian here. With us, he is at least a man ; but in Mexico, even the 
instincts of his human nature are scarcely preserved. 

It is true that these men are/ree, and have the unquestionable liberty, 
after raising their crop of fruits or vegetables, to trot with it fifty or sixty 
miles, on foot, to market, where' the produce of their toil is, in a few 
hours, spent, either at the gambling table or the pulque shop. After this 
they have the liberty, as soon as they get sober, to trot back again to their 
kennels in the mountains, if they are not previously lassoed by some re- 
cruiting sergeant, and forced to " volunteer" in the army. Yet what is 
the worth of such purposeless liberty or the worth of such purposeless 
life ? There is not a single ingredient of a noble-spirited and highminded 
mountain peasantry in them. Mixed in their races, they have been en- 
slaved and degraded by the conquest; ground into abject servility du- 
ring the Colonial government ; corrupted in spirit by the superstitious 
rites of an ignorant priesthood ; and now, without hope, without education, 
without other interest in their welfare, than that of some good-hearted 



CITYOFCUERNAVACA. Itl 

village curate, they drag out a miserable existence of beastiality and 
crime. Shall such men be expected to govern themselves ? 



It was long after sunset when we descended the last steep, and passed 
a neat little village, where the people were sitting in front of their low- j 
roofed houses, from every one of which issued the tinkle of guitars. I 
The bright sky reflected a long twilight, and it was just becoming dark 
when we trotted into Cuernavaca, after a ride of fourteen leagues. 

Our companions had already reached the inn, and as we dashed into 
the court-yard, we found them a tort et a travers with the landlord about 
rooms. We had seen a flaming advertisement of this tavern and its com- 
forts in the papers of the Capital, and counted largely on splendid apart- 
ments and savory supper after our tiresome ride and pic-nic breakfast. 
But, as at the " diligence hotel " in the morning — everything went to 
the tune of *' No hai !'' No hai beds, rooms, meats, soups, supper — 
nada ! They had nothing ! We ended by securing two rooms, and I set 
out to examine them, as well as my legs (stiff from being all day in the 
hard Mexican stirrups) would let me. The first room I entered was 
covered with water from the heavy rains. The second adjoined the first; 
and, although the walls were damp, the floor was dry ; but there was 
no window or opening except the door ! 

We had secured the room, and of course wanted ieds ; because, room 
and bed, and bureau, and wash-stand, and towels, and soap, are not all 
synonymous here as in other civilized countries. Four of our travellers 
had fortunately brought cots with them ; but I had trusted to my two 
blankets and my old habits of foraging. At length the master managed 
to find a bed for two more of us, and a cot for me, and thus the night was 
provided for. We had resolved not to go without supper, and my talents 
in that branch of our adventures having been proved in the morning, 
I was dispatched to the kitchen. I will not disclose the history of my 
negotiations on this occasion, but suffice it to say that in an hour's time 
we had a soup ; a fragment of stewed mutton ; a plate of Lima beans ; a 
famous dish of turkey and peppers ; and the table was set off by an enor- 
mous head of lettuce in the centre, garnished with outposts of oranges 
on either side, while two enormous pine-apples reared their prickly leaves 
in front and rear. 

An hour afterward we had all retired to our windowless room, and 
after piling our baggage against the door to keep out the robbers, I wrap- 
ped myself in my blanket, on the bare, pillowless, sacking-bottom, and 
was soon asleep. 

Monday, \9ih September. The morning was exceedingly fine, the 
sun was out brightly, and there were no symptoms of the rain that 



172 MEXICO, 

had fallen during the night, except in the freshness it had imparted to 
the luxuriant vegetation of the valley. 

Before breakfast I sallied forth for a walk over the town. Cuernavaca 
lies on a tongue of land jutting out into the lap of the valley. On its 
western side, a narrow glen has been scooped out by the water which de- 
scends from the mountains, and its sides are thickly covered with the 
richest verdure. To the east, the city again slopes rapidly, and then as 
rapidly rises. I walked down this valley street past the church built by 
Cortez, (an old picturesque edifice, filled with nooks and corners,) where 
they were chanting a morning mass. In the yard of the Palace, or 
Casa Municipal, at the end of the street, a body of dismounted cavalry 
soldiers was going through the sword exercise. From this I went to the 
Plaza in front of it, at present nearly covered with a large wooden am- 
phitheatre, that had been devoted to bull fights during the recent national 
holydays. Around the edges of this edifice, the Indians and small farm- 
ers spread out their mats, covered with fine fruits and vegetables of the 
tierra caliente. I passed up and down a number of the steep and nar 
row streets, bordered with ranges of one-story houses, open and cool, 
and fronted usually with balconies and porches screening them from the 
scorching sun. The softer and gentler appearance of the people, as com- 
pared with those of the Valley of Mexico, struck me forcibly. The whole 
has a Neapolitan air. The gardens are numerous and full of flowers. 
By the street sides, small canals continually pour along the cool and 
clear waters from the mountains. 

At nine o'clock I returned to breakfast, and found it rather better than 
our last night's supper. While this meal was preparing, I strolled out 
into the garden back of the hotel. 

The house once belonged to a convent, and was occupied by monks ; 
but many years since it was purchased by a certain Joseph Laborde, who 
played a bold part in the mine-gambling which once agitated the Mexi- 
cans with its speculative excitement. 

In 1743, Laborde came, as a poor youth, to Mexico, and by a fortunate 
venture in the mine of the Canada del Real de Tapujahua, he gained 
immense wealth. After building a church in Tasco which cost him near 
half a million, he was suddenly reduced to the greatest misery, both by 
unlucky speculations, and the failure of mines from which he had drawn 
an annual revenue of between "two and three hundred thousand marks. 
The Archbishop, however, permitted him to dispose of a golden soleil, en- 
riched with diamonds, which, in his palmy days, he had presented to his 
church at Tasco ; and with the produce of the sale, which amounted to 
nigh one hundred thousand dollars, he returned once more to Zacatecas. 
This district was at that period nearly abandoned as a mining country, 
and produced annually but fifty thousand marks of silver. But Laborde 
immediately undertook the celebrated mine of Quebradilla, and in work- 
ing it, lost again, nearly all his capital. Yet was he not to be deterred. 



LABORDE. 173 

With the scanty remains of his wealth, he persevered in his labors; 
struck on the veta grande, or great vein of La Esperanza, and thereby, a 
second time, replenished his coffers. From that period, the produce 
of the mines of Zacatecas rose to near five hundred thousand marks 
a year, and Laborde, at his death, left three millions of livres. In the 
meantime, however, he had forced his only daughter into a convent, in 
order that he might bequeath his immense property unembarrassed to his 
son ; who, in turn, infected like his father with religious bigotry, volunta- 
rily embraced the monastic life, and ended the family's career of avarice 
and ambition. 

During his days of prosperity, Laborde had owned the property on 
which we are now staying, and embellished it with every adornment that 
could bring out the beauties of surrounding nature. The dwelling is said 
to have been magnificent before it was destroyed during the Revolution, 
but nothing remains now of all the splendor with which the speculator 
enriched it, except the traces of its beautiful garden. This is situated on 
the western slope bending toward the glen, and contains near eight acres 
in its two divisions. These he covered with a succession of gradually 
descending terraces, filled with the rarest natural and exotic flowers. In 
the midst of these gardens is still a tank for water-fowl, and over the high 
western wall rises a mirador or lellevue, from which the eye ranges north, 
south, and west, to the mountains over the plain, which is cut in its cen- 
tre by the tangled dell. 

The northern division of this garden is reached by a flight of steps 
from the first, and incloses a luxuriant grove of forest trees, broad-leaved 
plantains, and a few solitary palms waving over all their fan-like branches. 
In these dense and delicious shades through which the sun, at noon, can 
scarcely penetrate, a large basin spreads out into a mimic lake. A flight 
of fifteen steps descend to it from the bank, and were once filled with jars 
of flowers. In the centre of this sheet two small gardens are still planted, 
and the flowers bending over their sides and growing to their very edge, 
seem floating on the waters. At the extreme end of the grounds, a deep 
summer-house extends nearly the whole width of the field on arches, and 
its walls are painted in fresco to resemble a beautiful garden filled with 
flowers and birds of the rarest plumage. Looking at this from the south 
end of the little lake, the deception is perfect, and you seem beholding the 
double of the actual prospect, repeated by some witchery of art. 

I would gladly have spent the day in this garden, but we had arranged 
our journey so as to devote a portion of this morning to visit the adjacent 
hacienda of Temisco, a sugar plantation, owned by the Del Barrios, of 
Mexico. Accordingly, after breakfast we mounted, and passing down the 
steep descents to the east, we struck off" into the fields in a southwardly 
direction. 

The beautiful suburbs of Cuernavaca are chiefly inhabited by Indians, 
whose houses are built along the narrow lanes ; and in a country where 
it is a comfort to be all day long in the open air under the shade of trees, 



174 MEXICO. 

and where you require no covering except to shelter you in sleep and 
showers, you may readily imagine that the dwellings of the people are 
exceedingly slight. A few canes stuck on end, and a thatch of cane, 
complete them. 

But the broad-leaved plantain, the thready pride of China, the feath- 
ery palm, bending over them, and matted together by lacing vines and 
creeping plants covered with blossoms — these form the real dwellings. 
The whole, in fact, would look like a picture from Paul and Virginia — 
but for the figures ! Unkempt men, indolent and lounging ; begrimed 
women, surrounded by a set of naked little imps as begrimed as they; 
and all crawling or rolling over the filth of their earthen floors, or on 
dirty hides stretched over sticks for a bed. A handful of corn, a bunch 
of plantains, or a pan of beans picked from the nearest bushes, is their 
daily food ; and here they burrow, like so many animals, from youth to 
manhood, from manhood to the grave. 



After leaving the city, our road lay for some distance along the high 
table-land, and at length struck into the glen which passes from the west 
of Cuernavaca, where, for tlie first time in Mexico, I actually lost the 
high-road. Imagine the channel of a mountain-stream down the side of 
an Alleghany mountain, with its stones chafed out of all order, and 
many of them worn into deep clefts by the continual tread of mules fol- 
lowing each other, over one path, for centuries. This was the main turn- 
pike of the country to the port of Acapulco, and several of our party 
managed to continue on horseback while descending the ravine ; but out 
of respect both for myself and the animal I bestrode, I dismounted, and 
climbed over the rocks and gullies to the bottom of the glen, where we 
crossed a swift stream on a bridge. Ascending from this to the ridge on 
the opposite side, in rather a scrambling manner, we entered the domain 
of the hacienda* of Temisco, the buildings of which we shortly reached 
after passing through an Indian village, where most of the laborers on 
the estate reside. 

This is one of the oldest establishments of note in the Republic, and 
passed, not many years since, into the hands of the present owners for the 
sum of -$300,000. The houses (consisting oi" the main dwelling, a large 
chapel, and all the requisite out-buildings for grinding the cane and re-> 
fining the sugar,) were erected shortly after the conquest, and their walls 
bear yet the marks of the bullets with which the refractory owner was 
assailed during one of the numerous revolts in Mexico. He stood out 
stoutly against the enemy, and mustering his faithful Indians within the 
walls of his court-yard, repulsed the insurgents. 

* " Hacienda," is the name given fo all estates or plantations in contradistinction to "' Rancho," a farm. 




IKDIAlf HUT: ISr THE TIEBBA CAlIEIfTE. 



A HACIENDA. 175 

The estate spreads over a tract of eleven leagues in length by three 
in breadth. It employs about two hundred and fifty laborers, at two 
and a half and three reals per day, who produce about fifty thousand 
loaves of sugar, of from twenty-two to twenty-four pounds, per annum. 
It is calculated that the molasses pays all the expenses of the establish- 
ment, which amount to near thirty thousand dollars. At the store of the 
hacienda, (belonging to the proprietor of the estate,) almost the whole of 
this sum is received back from the Indians, who, I perceived, purchased 
even their bread. In addition to the revenue from the sugar crop^ about 
eight thousand head of cattle feed on the premises, half of which are the 
property of its owner, the other half being strays from adjoining haciendas. 



We were received by Don Rafael, one of the brothers del Barrio, whom 
we unexpectedly met on the estate. He conducted us into a long monastic- 
looking hall, nearly bare of furniture, yet bearing traces of taste and re-* 
finement, in a well-selected library and valuable piano in one corner, while 
a hammock, suspended from the unplastered rafters, swung across the airy 
apartment. Here we were most hospitably entertained, and enjoyed a 
pleasant chat with the owner, in French, Spanish, English and German, 
all of which languages the worthy gentleman speaks, — having not only 
travelled in, but dwelt long and observingly in every country of Europe. 
It was strange, in these wild portions of Mexico, in the midst of Indians, 
to drop thus suddenly and unexpectedly by the side of a well-bred man, 
dressed in his simple costume of a plain country farmer, who could con- 
verse with you in most of the modern tongues, upon all subjects — from 
the collections of the Pitti Palace and the Vatican, to the breed and edu- 
cation of a game cock ! 

As we looked over the fields of cane, waving their long, delicate 
green leaves, in the mid-day sunshine to the south, he pointed out to us the 
site of an Indian village, at the distance of three leagues, the inhabitants 
of which are almost in their native state. He told us, that they do not permit 
the visits of white people; and that, numbering more than three thousand, 
they come out in delegations to work at the haciendas, being governed at home 
by their own magistrates, administering their own laws, and employing a Cath. 
olic priest, once a year, to shrive them of their sins. The money they receive 
in payment of wages, at the haciendas, is taken home and buried ; and 
as they produce the cotton and skins for their dress, and the corn and 
beans for their food, they purchase nothing at the stores. They form a 
good and harmless community of people, rarely committing a depredation 
upon the neighboring farmers, and only occasionally lassoing a cow or a 
bull, which they say they " do not steal, but take for food." If they are 
chased on such occasions, so great is their speed of foot, they are rarely 
caught even by the swiftest horses ; and if their settlement is ever entered 
by a white, the transgressor is immediately seized, put under guard in a large 
hut, and he and his animal are fed and carefully attended to until the follow- 



176 MEXICO. 

,ng day, when he is dispatched from the village under an escort of Indians, 
who watch him until far beyond the limits of the primitive settlement. 

Du Roslan and myself felt a strong desire (notwithstanding the inhibi- 
tion,) to visit this original community, as one of the most interesting objects 
of our journey ; but the rest of our party objecting, we were forced to 
submit to the law of majorities in our wandering tribe. 

I observed, that on this hacienda the proprietors have introduced all 
the improvements in the art of making sugar, and obtained their horizontal 
rollers and boiling-pans from New- York. How they reached their places 
over the wretched roads, must ever remain a riddle to others but Mexican 
teamsters ; and yet, after all the immense outlay of capital, in the pur- 
chase and improvement of this property, the proprietor complains bitterly, 
this year, of the difficulty of selling its produce, and the general depres- 
sion of the times. With roads to transport his crop to market, and 
with ideas heyond the hack of a mule as the only means of transportation, he 
would not be forced to complain long of stagnant trade and trifling profits. 
Peace, internal improvement, and native enterprise, unmolested by fiscal 
legislation, are what Mexico requires ; and, until she obtains them, the 
planter may vainly expend his fortune in mechanical improvements. 



We reached Cuernavaca about 3 o'clock, meeting on the way a number 
of muleteers, and Indians with their wives, returning from market. A 
gang of thieves, sent under a guard to the town prison, also passed us on 
the road. 

We entered the city, through the delightful suburb of groves. The 
families of many of the better classes of the inhabitants were sitting under 
the shade of their porches, and it was impossible to avoid remarking the 
delicate beauty of the females. 

Indolence is said to be the general characteristic of Cuernavaca ; and, 
as in all fine climates, it is fatal to enterprise and in'dustry. The tem- 
perature is too high for these virtues. Man wants but shade, shelter, 
and a gratified appetite, and there is no inducement to make the interior 
of dwellings either beautiful or attractive. Working in the open air 
fatigues — reading, within, makes them drowsy. They rise early, because 
it is too warm to lie in bed ; they go to mass, for exercise in the cool and 
balmy morning air ; they go to sleep after their meals, because it is 
too warm to walk about ; and they go to vespers, to pass the time until the 
hour arrives for another meal, as preparatory to another nap ! And thus, 
between sleep, piety, and victuals, life passes aimlessly enough, in this 
region of eternal summer. 



A FANDANGO. 177 

We lounged for an hour or two in Laborde's beautiful garden, watching 
the sunset over the western glen, and found it difficult to leave even for the 
promise of a dinner. While we had been on our morning visit to the 
hacienda, the diligence arrived from Mexico, and the hungry passengers, 
who had travelled since three o'clock almost without food, made a deep 
inroad in the larder. It required some energy to repair this havoc, and 
as our dinner had been ordered at six o'clock, I took occasion to pay my 
respect'^ -o the cook-maid. With the aid of a little cash and persuasion, 
I managed to preserve our own stores untouched until we penetrate far- 
ther into the country, where, in all likelihood, we will need them more. 

After dinner, we took a walk by moonlight through the town. The 
night was as cloudless and serene, as one of our summer evenings by 
the sea-shore. 

Antonio, the broken-nosed hero, and owner of the cur, proposed that 
we should go to see a fandango, at the house of one of the burghers, 
who was his friend. He led the way, through several streets, to a neat 
dwelling in the midst of a garden, where we found a row of elderly ladies 
strung on high-backed chairs against the wall, while a dozen young and 
pretty ones (by the light of a couple of starved tallow candles,) received 
ihe compliments of as many of the village beaux. Two or three musi- 
cians were seated in a corner strumming their handalones, and going 
through a half hour of preparatory tuning, while the company gathered. 
At length, when all had assembled, the schoolmaster — a veteran and a 
bachelor, the briskest and busiest man of the party — constituted himself 
master of ceremonies for the evening, and insisted on our joining in a 
contra dance, got up expressly for the strangers. Du Roslan and myself 
joined the dance, on my principle of "taking people as they are, and 
doing as they do," besides that I think it always in the worst taste to 
leave men, no matter how humble or poor they may be, under the im- 
pression that you have visited them as curiosities. After footing it through, 
we handed the servants a couple of dollars to bring in refreshments of 
"Perfect-love" and "Noyau" for the ladies, and something more likely 
to be relished by the gentlemen. This we understood was not contrary 
to the rules of " good society ;" — so they sipped and became livelier. A 
couple took the floor — the lady with castanets, and the man chantino- an 
air to the guitar. Another pair followed their example, while the re- 
mainder formed a cotillon, to the twang of the rest of the instruments. 
The Cuernavacans seemed wide awake, for once at least, and we stole 
off quietly at midnight, in the midst of an uproar of music and merriment. 



2(ith Septemher. At four o'clock, day was just breaking and the moon 
still shining, when we passed through the suburbs of Cuernavaca. As 
we reached the highlands of the plateau, where the barranca breaks pre- 
cipitously, the sun rose. There had been no rain during the niijht ; the 
sky was perfectly clear, and in the distance lay the mountains of the 



178 MEXICO. 

southern Sierra, with the morning mists resting like lakes among tlieir 
folds. 

Passmg over the declivitous road we had traversed yesterday, we soon 
struck off to the right, near the hacienda of Temisco, and after crossing 
a deep ravine, rose to a still higher plateau, where we enjoyed a beautiful 
view of this splendid estate, with its white walls and chapel tower, 
buried in the middle of bright green cane-fields, waving with the fresh 
breeze in the early light. 

From this eminence the guide (who was a half-breed Indian and Ne- 
gro,) pointed out to me a small mountain, at the extremity of the plain in 
front, on which was situated the Pyramid of Xochicalco — the subject of 
our day's explorations. The cerro appears to rise directly out of the 
levels between two mountains, and the plain continuing to its very foot, 
might seemingly be traversed in half an hour. Accordingly, I expressed 
this opinion to the guide, and put my horse directly in motion for it ; but 
the half-breed turned off to the right. I remonstrated, as the whole pla. 
teau appeared to be a perfect prairie, smooth and easily crossed ; yet he 
insisted that in the straight forward direction, and, indeed, in all direc- 
tions, it was cut by one of those vast barrancas, which, worn by the attri- 
tion of water for ages, break on you unexpectedly in the most level fields, 
forcing you frequently to tread back your path or to go miles around for 
a suitable crossing. The space in a direct line over these gullies may be 
no more than fifty yards before you strike the same level on the opposite 
bank — and yet to reach it, you are compelled to descend hundreds of 
feet and ascend again, among rocks and herbage for the distance of a 
mile. Such was the account of the barrancas, given by our guide, except 
that he declared the one in front of us to be at present entirely impassalle. 
I submitted, therefore, to his advice, and turning off with him to the right, 
we trotted away at the head of our party, and soon lost sight of our lag- 
ging friends. 

In a quarter of an hour we reached one of the barrancas of which he 
had spoken, and it fully justified his description : — a wide, yawning gulf 
in the midst of the plain, with precipitous sides tangled with rocks and 
shrubbery. 

Although the path was scarcely broad enough for the horse's feet, — 
with a steep towering on the right, and a precipice of a hundred yards 
plunging down immediately on his left, — this bold rider never quitted his 
animal, but pushed right onward. I confess that I paused before I fol- 
lowed. 

Two travellers, who passed us half an hour before, had already de- 
scended, and wei^e thridding their way on the other side of the glen among 
the rocks. Instead, however, of taking the side of the opposite steep in 
a right line with the descent, as they ought to have done, they had fol. 
lowed the downward course of the stream in seeking for an easier rise, 
and they were forced to halt before a pile of impassable rocks, from which 
they shouted to our guide for directions. 



THE BARRANCA. 179 

"When I again caught a glimpse of the half-breed, his head was rising 
and sinking with the motion of his horse, a hundred feet below me, as 
he slid along the shelving precipices of the barranca. Yet there was 
no alternative but to follow him ; and as my horse was an old roadster 
in the tierra caliente, I resolved not to be outdone, and so, giving him his 
own time and control of the bridle, I trusted to his sagacity, and put him 
in the path. Nor had I occasion to regret my confidence in the beast ; 
he did his work bravely, feeling his path, leaning against the upper sides 
of the dangerous passes, and clambering along with the tenacity of a fly 
and the activity of a cat. But when we were within fifty feet of the bot- 
tom of the ravine, a sharp turn to the right disclosed to me an almost 
headlong wall of rock for the remaining distance, into which steps had 
been cut that seemed scarcely passable on foot. I looked about me, and 
found there was room to dismount. Although I had great confidence in 
the horse, I confess to more in my own feet ; and thus scrambling on 
ahead, at the length of my lasso, I led the animal to the bottom of the 
dell, through which ran a broad and rapid stream swollen by the recent 
rains. Here I found the guide waiting for me. We plunged in at once, 
and partly swimming the horses and partly scrambling over the huge 
stones that formed the bed of the torrent, we attained the western bank 
in safety. 

Fairly past one difficulty, another confronted us in the ascent of the op- 
posite side, which seemed steeper and more craggy than the other. De- 
termined to try my horse's mettle, I now continued on' his back, and 
prepared him for what he had to expect by leaping a stone-wall at the foot 
of the declivity. He took at once nimbly to the crags, sprang after the 
guide from rock to rock and ledge to ledge, almost at a run; neither laid 
his ears to his neck for a moment, nor faltered for whip, spur, or word of 
encouragement ; and, in half the time occupied in the descent, placed me 
on the top of the plateau. 

But our companions were missing. From our elevated position, we 
commanded an uninterrupted view over the levels of the opposite prairie, 
yet they were neither on it, nor winding down the sides of the glen. Mr, 
Black soon made his appearance, and followed us up the cliffs ; but he 
was not able to account for the rest of the party. In half an hour, how- 
ever, they appeared near a mile up the barranca fording the river; and 
as it was evident that they were in the right direction and saw us, we 
pushed on. Descending another fold of the ravines, and again crossino- 
an arm of the same stream, and zig-zagging another hill to its summit, we 
found ourselves at last on the table-land without the interruption of more 
barrancas. 

Here we were rejoined by some of the party, who reported one of the 
mules to be broken down. The other, however, soon reached us, and it 
was sent back unladen, for the carga of the useless beast that was de- 
tained at the foot of the last declivity. 



180 MEXICO. 

In half an hour we were again in motion, after a fruitless effort to shoot 
a young buck we had started in a neighboring corn-field. The sun was 
now intensely hot, and from its influence and the exercise of the morn- 
ing, I was drenched with perspiration, nor was it disagreeable to find the 
pores of the skin thus relieved, after a residence of eight months in the 
Valley of Mexico, where the sensation is scarcely known. 

I put up my umbrella to screen myself as much as possible from the 
direct rays, but the heat was reflected as scorchingly from the naked 
plain and shrubless hills. Nevertheless, wearied by the fatigue of six 
hours in the saddle without food, I soon fell into a doze, which lasted 
until we entered the bai'e gorge between the hills through which com- 
mences the ascent to the ruined pyramid. 

Here, among some scanty bushes which afforded shade and shelter, 
we dismounted to breakfast; but, unluckily, water had been entirely 
forgotten by our servants ; there was not a drop in the gourds or can- 
teens. Our pic-nic feast of sardines, ham, sausage, and corned -beef, con- 
sequently but added to a parching thirst which there was no hope of 
allaying but by slow draughts of claret and sherry that had been exposed 
for hours to a blazing sun on the backs of mules. Nor was this all. 
Scarcely had we seated ourselves, when clouds of black-flies and mosqui- 
tos came down from their nests among the ruins, and I write this memo- 
rial of them with hands inflamed by their inexorable stings. 

In a bad humor, as you may naturally suppose, for antiquarian re- 
searches, I nevertheless mounted my horse as soon as breakfast was over, 
and ascended the hill with Pedro, while my companions, who had less 
anxiety about such matters, laid down under an awning of scrapes 
stretched from tree to tree, to finish the nap that had been interrupted 
at half-past three in the morning. 



THE RUINS OF THE PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 



At the distance of six leagues from the city of Cuernavaca lies a cerro, 
three hundred feet in height, which, with the ruins that crown it, is known 
by the name of Xochicalco, or " the Hill of Flowers." The base of 
this eminence is surrounded by the very distinct remains of a deep and 
wide ditch ; its summit is attained by five spiral terraces ; the walls 
that support them are built of stone, joined by cement, and are still quite 
perfect ; and, at regular distances, as if to buttress these terraces, there 
are remains of bulwarks shaped like the bastions of a fortification. The 
summit of the hill is a wide esplanade, on the eastern side of which are 
still perceptible three truncated cones, resembling the tumuli found among 
many similar ruins in Mexico. On the other sides there are also large 




mmi^m, 




BUIKS OF XOCHICALCO. 



PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 181 

heaps of loose stones of irregular shape, which seem to have formed por- 
tions of similar mounds or tumuli, or, perhaps, parts of fortifications in 
connection with the wall that is alleged by the old writers to have sur- 
rounded the base of the pyramid, but of which I could discern no traces. 

The stones forming parts of the conical remains, have evidently been 
shaped by the hand of art, and are often found covered with an exterior 
coat of mortar, specimens of which I took away with me as sharp and 
perfect as the day it was laid on centuries ago. 

Near the base of the last terrace, on which the pyramid rises, the es- 
planade is covered with trees and tangled vines, but the body of the plat- 
form is cultivated as a corn-field. We found the Indian owner at work 
in it, and were supplied by him with the long-desired comfort of a gourd 
of water. He pointed out to us the way to the summit of the terrace 
through the thick brambles ; and rearing our horses up the crumbling 
stones of the wall, we stood before the ruins of this interesting pyramid, 
the remains of which, left by the neighboring planters after they had 
borne away enough to build the walls of their haciendas, now lie buried 
in a grove of palmettos, bananas, and forest-trees, apparently the growth 
of many hundred years. 

Indeed, this pyramid seems to have been (like the Forum and Collis- 
eum at Rome,) the quarry for all the builders of the vicinity ; and Alzate, 
who visited it as far back as 1777, relates, that not more than twenty years 
before, the Jive terraces of which it consisted, were still perfect; and that on 
the eastern side of the upper platform there had been a magnificent 
throne carved from porphyry, and covered with hieroglyphics of the most 
graceful sculpture. Soon after this period, however, the work of de- 
struction was begun by a certain Estrada, and it is not more than a couple 
of years since one of the wealthiest planters of the neighborhood ended 
the line of spoilers by carrying off enormous loads of the squared and 
sculptured materials, to build a tank in a barranca to bathe his cattle ! 
All that now remains of the five stories, terraces, or bodies of the pyra- 
mid, are portions of the first, the whole of which is of dressed porphyry tic 
rock, covered with singular figures and hieroglyphics executed in a skil- 
ful manner. The opposite plate presents a general view of the ruins as 
seen from the westward. 

The basement is a rectangular building, and its dimensions on the 
northern front, measured above the plinth, are sixty-four feet in length, 
by fifty-eight in depth on the western front. The height between the 
plinth and frieze is nearly ten feet ; the breadth of the frieze is three feet 
and a half, and of the cornice one foot and five inches. I placed my 
compass on the wall, and found the lines of the edifice to correspond ex- 
actly with the cardinal points. 

The western front is quite clear of bushes and fallen stones, and we 
had an opportunity to examine minutely the sculpture of the northwest- 
ern corner, which is very accurately delineated by Nebel* in the sec- 
ond engraving. 

* Viaje pintoreso y AiqueoloKico ft la Republioa de Mexico. 



182 



MEXICO. 



In the left-hand corner of this sculpture will be perceived the head of 
a monstrous beast, whose bearded and open jaws are armed with sharp 
teeth, from between which protrudes a forked tongue. In front of this is 
a crook or staff, terminated by a plume of feathers, similar to that of the 
head-dress of the figures that will be subsequently described. Beneath 
the mouth of the monster is a square, resembling a hieroglyph, or perhaps 
a Chinese letter • and below this is a rabbit, a figure which will be no- 
ticed again on the corner stone that formed part of the base of the second 
story, as well as on the frieze of the first. 

Nothing of this pyramid remains so uninjured as the northern front; 
and this, with the exception of parts of the frieze and cornice, is still en- 
tire. I present, in the plate marked A, a copy of the drawing made of 
it by Alzate at the period of his visit in 1777. 

It will be perceived, that although the figures at the corners somewhat 
resemble those already described on the western front, yet the lines pro- 
ceeding from the mouths of the monsters' heads fall in a curve ; and it 
was doubtless from these that the story repeated by Humboldt originated, 
that " at the Pyramid of Xochicalco there were representations of croco- 
diles spouting water." They certainly are not crocodiles, but more prob- 
ably, some fabulous monsters fashioned from the imaginations of the un- 
known builders, or compounded, perhaps, of various symbols by which 
they represented their deities. 

On the frieze are constantly repeated the figures represented by Nebel 
in the following drawings : 




^^ 



t5^ 



^ 2 



TTTT 



HI 



PYRAMID V F XOCHICALCO, 



183 




The figures in both of these bassi-relievi are seated cross-legged; 
plumes depend from a cap of the one, and from an odd head-dress of the 
other ; and the left hand of the figure in the second drawing rests upon 
an ornament or symbol. In the figure of the first drawing the right hand 
is placed on the thigh ; the left holds a sort of crooked daggei*, and a cu- 
rious bandage, not unlike a pair of s-pectacles, is over the eyes. Four 
symbols cover the rest of the square — a rabbit, a figure precisely like 
the letter J, another like the letter V, on its side, and an oval in which 
there is a cross. These relievos, as I before observed, run round the 
whole of the remaining frieze, while the cornice above it is sculptured with 
the tasteful ovals represented in the drawing of the northwestern angle. 
I could not find any remains of color on the sculpture, which is gene- 
rally between three and four inches deep. I have represented the outlines 
of the stones of which the edifice is composed in the design of the north- 
western angle. They are laid upon each other without cement, and kept 
in place by their weight alone ; and as the sculpture of a figure is seen 
to run frequently over several of them, there can be no doubt that the bassi- 
relievi were cut after the pyramid had been erected. 
' Some idea may be formed of the immense labor with wnich this build- 
ing was constructed, from measurements I made of several of the masses 
of porphyry that compose it. The whole building occupies a space of 
three thousand seven hundred and twelve square feet — the middle stone 
in the first story at the north end, is seven feet eleven inches long, and 
two feet nine inches broad ; the stone at the northeast corner on the 
second story, repi'esented in the plate as bearing the figure of a rabbit, is 
five feet two inches long, and two feet six inches broad ; and the stone at 



184 MEXICO. 

the base of the southwest corner is two feet seven inches high, five feet 
long, and four feet seven inches broad. 

When it is recollected that these materials were not found in the neigh- 
borhood, but were brought from a great distance, and borne up a hill, 
(more than three hundred feet high,) we cannot fail to be struck with the 
industry, toil and ingenuity of the builders, especially as the use of beasts 
of burden was at that time unknown in Mexico, Nor was this edifice on 
the summit the only portion of the architect's labor. Huge rocks were 
brought to form the walls supporting the terraces that surrounded the hill 
a league in circumference, and the whole of that immense mass loas 
cased in stone. Beyond these terraces again, there was still another 
immense task in the ditch, of even greater extent, which had to be dug 
and regularly embanked ! When you combine all these difficulties and 
all their labors, I think you will agree with me, that there are but few 
works, not of essential utility, undertaken in the present age by civilized 
nations, that do not sink into insignificance when contrasted with the hill 
of Xochicalco, from whose summit towered its lofty pyramid of sculptured 
porphyry. 

There appears to be no doubt that a flight of steps rose on the western 
front from the commencement of the terrace, and terminated before three 
portals, the remains of which Nebel alleges he discovered ; but since 
his visit, the edifice has been so much injured, and the vegetation has 
sprung up so vigorously, that I was unable to perceive any indications of 
the apertures. It is probable that these led to the interior of the Temple, 
whence there was a communication with the subterranean vaults that 
have been explored within a few years by persons acting under orders 
of the Government. I endeavored to examine tliese underground apart- 
ments as soon as I found the opening to them, at the foot of the first 
terrace on the northern side of the hill ; but the guide professed igno- 
rance of the interior, and the Indian he had engaged to pilot me failed in 
attending. Indeed, such is the superstition of these simple-minded people, 
that you find it difficult to investigate anything in which their services 
are required, among the relics of their ancient race. They believe that 
the mounds and caverns are haunted by the spirits of their ancestors — 
that they were places of sepulture or holiness — and few have the hardi- 
hood to assist in revealing their secrets. 

In examining various works on the subject of these ruins, the best notice 
I have found of them is the account of a visit of certain gentlemen in 
March, 183.5, by order of the Supreme Government.* In making a com- 
plete examination, both of the pyramid and the hill, this party explored 
the caverns and vaults. 

After describing their course through various dark and narrow pas- 
sages, the walls of which were covered with a hard and varnished gray 
cement, that preserved its lustre in a remarkable degree, they came to 

* Published in the Kevista Mejicana of 1835. 



PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 185 

two enormous pillars, or rather two masses, cleft from the rock of which 
the hill is composed, affording three entrances, between them, to a saloon 
near ninety feet in extent. Above them was a cupola of regular shape, 
supported by cut stones disposed in circles, in the middle of which was 
an aperture reaching perhaps to the summit of the pyramid. The writer 
describes the stones that compose the cupola as " diminishing gradually 
in size as they rise to the top, and forming a beautiful mosaic." It is 
much to be regretted that these explorers made no drawing of the spot, 
as it would be most interesting to see the outline of what we are thus led 
to believe is a regular arch ; and it is equally to be regretted, that the 
superstitions of the Indians and the fear of wild beasts, scorpions and 
serpents, that are said to fill these sombre crypts, prevent a more ex- 
tended examination of the interior of the hill. I was alone deterred by 
the haste of my companions, from delaying, at least another day, and 
devoting it to the exploration of these vaults. 

There is a tradition among the Indians, related by Alzate, that when 
the pyramid still numbered its five stories, there was on, or near, the hill 
of Xochicalco, an enormous stone or group, representing a man whose 
entrails an eagle was tearing ; but of this there are now no vestiges. 
Nebel states, that there was undoubtedly a communication from the inte- 
rior of the temple to the vaults below ; and, founding his belief on Indian 
tradition and on a discovery he made at the top of the first terrace, he 
alleges, that an aperture extended from the summit of the pyramid to the 
crypt we have described, and immediately beneath it was placed an 
altar, on which the sun's rays fell when that luminary became vertical. 
What his authorities were it is difficult to determine ; but I imagine the 
tale to be quite as fanciful as many other portions .of his beautiful work. 

This gentleman has given a drawing of what he terms the " Restora- 
tion of the Pyramid of Xochicalco,'' as it is supposed to have appeared 
when its terraces were all complete ; and although I do not believe he 
has sufficient authority for the figures with which he adorned the upper 
stories of the edifice, I have adopted his ideas generally in the following 
drawing, with the exception of adding a frieze and cornice to each of the 
stories, as will be seen, also, hereafter, in the outlines of the "Pyramid 
of Papantla." 
14 



186 



MEXICO. 




RESTORATION OF THE PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 



Such, in all probability — from the authority of unimpeachable tradi- 
tions, and the remains now crumbling to ruins and overgrown with the 
forest at its base — such, was the Pyramid of Xochicalco, when it first rose 
aloft covered with its curious symbols of mystic rites, and received from 
the Indian builders its dedication to the gods, or to the glory of some 
sovereign whose bones were to moulder within. Who those builders and 
consecrate rs were no one can tell. There is no tradition of them or of 
the temple. When first discovered, no one knew to what it had been 
devoted, 'or who had built it. It had outlasted both history and memory ! 

But no matter who built, or what nation used it as temple or tomb, 
those who conceived and executed it were persons of taste, refinement and 
civilization ; and I venture to assert, that no one who examines the figures 
with which it is covered, can fail to connect the designers with the people 
who dwelt and worshipped in the palaces and temples of Uxmal and 
Palenque. 

Fragmentary fragment as this pyramid is, it may still be deemed in 
outline, material, carving, design, and execution, one of the most remark- 
able of the antiquities of America. It denotes, besides, an ancient civili- 
zation and architectural progress, that may well entitle the inhabitants of 
our Continent to the character of an Original race. On the other hand, 
(for those who are fond of tracing resemblances, and believe that whatever 
there was of art, science, or cultivation among the aborigines, came fron- 
the " old world,") there is much in the shape, proportions and sculptures 
of this pyramid, to connect its architects with the Egyptians. 



CROSSINGARIVER. 187 

The day was far advanced, when I stood for the last time on the corner, 
stone of the upper terrace and looked at the beautiful prospect around me. 
It was the centre of a mighty plain. Running due north were the re- 
mains of an ancient paved road, leading over prairie and barranca to the 
city,* distinctly visible at the foot of the Sierra Madre — and, all around, 
at the distance of some miles, east, west, and south, rose lofty mountains, 
among whose valley-folds nestled the white walls of haciendas that owed 
their strength and massiveness to the spoliation of the very ruins on which 
I stood. Palace, temple, tomb, fortification, whatever it was, (and to all 
these uses has it been appropriated by the guessing tribe of antiquarians,) 
the Pyramid of Xochicalco was nobly situated in its day and generation, 
and no one will now visit its crumbling remains without a better opinion 
of the unfortunate races who were pushed aside to make room for the 
growth and expansion of European power. 



TETECALA. 



• It was near three o'clock, when we again took up our line of march 
under a burning sun ; and, lingering with Pedro until after my compan- 
ions had departed, I found, on reaching the bottom of the hill, that they 
were already out of sight, and that all traces of them were lost on the 
path among the trees and bushes. I shouted — but there was no an- 
swer. I inquired at the first Indian hut I passed, but no travellers had 
gone that way ; and, although following a distinct and apparently straight- 
forward road, I acknowledge that I was lost. To add to my disquietude, 
I had forgotten the name of the village at which we were to lodge. It 
was useless, however, to sit down in the forest, and I therefore resolved 
to push onward with confidence that the path led somewhere. I had not 
gone more than half a mile when I came up with another straggler of 
our party — lost, like myself — and we trotted along side by side, occa- 
sionally shouting for our companions, and then halting a moment to take 
breath in the close and sultry air filled with clouds of mosquitos and 
flies that settled on our hands and faces as soon as we drew our bridles. 

Suddenly, our road terminated at the margin of a wide stream, which 
was swollen over its banks by the late heavy rains, and was dashing along 
with the rapidity of a mill-race. On the opposite shore the road again 
reappeared, and we judged that this was of course the ford. 

Pedro, who was mounted on a stout, long-legged animal, was sent ahead, 
and partly swimming his animal and partly wading, he reached the bank 
in safety. I immediately followed, but my horse was both short limbed, 
and weary from the exertions he had made in the morning. Scarcely had 
the water risen above his girth when he was off his legs. I kept his head 

* Cuernavaca 



188 MEXICO. 

toward tlie opposite shore, and as much against the stream as possible; 
but with all his efforts he could make no lieadway, and was swept bodily 
down by the current toward a wreck of broken trees and branches that 
bent over the water from the bank we had quitted. I spurred, whipped, 
encouraged him, without avail. He made another effort ; but failing in 
that, kept his head above water and resigned himself to the tide. I 
felt my situation to be dangerous, especially as I was rapidly approach- 
ing the long and sharp branches, by which I knew that I should be severely 
injured. I resolved, therefore, .to leap off and swim for the bank, which 
was not more than a dozen paces distant. But, at that moment, Pedro 
galloped down to the point opposite which I was drifting, and, as I was 
about executing my purpose, I saw his lasso, flung with great accu- 
racy, settle around my animal's head. With the end wound round his 
saddle-bow, Pedro stood firmly on the shore, and, in a minute, the action 
of the current had swung my horse on soundings. Drenched as I was, 
I shall ever hereafter feel a debt of gratitude to a lasso — which is rarely 
felt for anything in the shape of a noose. 

My companion and myself continued our journey, both wet, (for he 
had fared not much better than myself,) but both gratified with our 
drenching, as it had the effect of a bath, while the evaporation of the water 
from our soaking clothes, cooled and refreshed us. 

Thus through valley and glade, (rarely meeting an Indian or passing 
one of their miserable houses,) and without intelligence of our party, we 
pushed onward until about six o'clock in the evening, when we reached 
a wide and cultivated plain, traversed by a considerable stream, resembling 
in its verdant banks and soft meadows set in a frame of lofty mountains, 
the scenery about the sources of our Potomac. We had not long jour- 
nied over this plain before we passed the hacienda of Miacatlan. At a 
short distance, to the right of it, appeared the village of Tetecala. As 
soon as a passing Indian mentioned the name, we recollected it to be that 
of our halting-place for the night. 

We speedily passed an Indian suburb, buried, as usual throughout the 
tierra caliente, in flowers and foliage, among which lounged the idle and 
contented population. Here we were met by a guide, who had been sent 
forward by our courteous entertainers, and we were soon under the shelter 
of their friendly roof. 

Our horses were quickly unsaddled and bounding over the wide corral ; 
and refreshed by a clean suit and a cigarrito, I had strolled over the 
tasteful village, and visited the market and the church (one of the neatest 
I have seen, especially in the simple and true taste of its architecture, 
and the arrangement of the altar and the pulpits,) before our companions 
made their appearance. It turned out, after all, that they — not we — had 
mistaken the road, and had wandered much out of their way under the 
direction of a guide. It is better sometimes to have none. 

In addition to all our antiquarian researches, to-day we have travelled 
nearly fifteen leagues, and although I have earned a right to a soft pillow 



A R A N C H . 189 

and bed, yet as there are none of these comforts in the house for me, I 
wrap myself in my serape on the hard settee, with full expectation of a 
night of sound repose. 



21*^ Septemler — Wednesday. We left Tetecala rather late this morn- 
ing, without other refreshments than a cup of chocolate and a biscuit, as 
our intention was to stop at the hacienda of Cocoyotla, where we arrived 
about 11 o'clock. 

We had no letter of introduction to Seiior Sylva, the proprietor; but 
we Were, nevertheless, most kindly received by him. He requested us to 
dismount, and to amuse ourselves by inspecting his garden and orange- 
grove while he ordered breakfast. 

This is a small, but one of the most beautiful estates in the iierra 
caliente. A handsome chapel-tower has recently been added to the old 
edifice ; a wing on broad arches has been given to the dwelling, and the 
garden is kept in tasteful order. 

Back of the house and bordering the garden, sweeps along a sweet 
sti'eam, some twenty yards in width, and, by canals from it, the grounds 
are plentifully supplied with water. But the gem of Cocoyotla is the 
orangery. It is not only a grove, but a miniature forest, interspersed 
with broad-leaved plaintains, guyavas, cocos, palms, and mammeis. It 
was burthened with fruits ; and a multitude of birds, undisturbed by the 
sportsman, have made their abodes among the shadowy branches. 

We sauntered about in the delicious and fragrant shade for half an 
hour, while the gardener supplied us with the finest fruits. We were 
then summoned to an excellent breakfast of several courses, garnished 
with capital "wine. 

When our repast was concluded, Seiior Sylva conducted us over his 
house ; showed us the interior of the neat church, where he has made 
pedestals for the figures of various saints out of stalactites from some 
neighboring cavern ; and finally dismissed us, with sacks of the choicest 
fruit, which he had ordered to be selected from his grove. 



RANCHO DE MICHAPAS. 

P. M. Our journey from this hacienda was toward the Cave of Caca- 
huawamilpa, which we propose visiting to-morrow, and we have reached, 
to-night, the rancho of Michapas. 

This is a new feature in our travels. Hitherto we have been guests 
at haciendas and comfortable town dwellings, but to-night we are lodged 
in a rancho — a small farmer's dwelling — an Indian hut. 

We arrived about five o'clock, after a warm ride over wide and solitary 
moors, with a back ground of the mountains we passed yesterday. In 



190 MEXICO. 

front another Sierra stretches along the horizon ; and in the foreground 
of the pictvire, a lake, near a mile in circuit, spreads out its silver sheet 
in the sunset, margined with wide-spreading trees and covered with water- 
fowl. 

The house is built of mud and reed's, matted together ; that is, there 
are four walls without other aperture but a door, while a thatch, supported 
on poles, spreads on either side from the roof-tree, forming a porch in 
front. This thatch is not allowed to touch the tops of the walls, but be- 
tween them and it, all around the house, a space of five or six feet has 
been left, by means of which a fi'ee circulation of air is kept up within. 
The interior (of one room,) is in perfect keeping with this aboriginal sim- 
plicity. Along the western wall there are a number of wretched engra- 
vings of saints, with inscriptions and verses beneath them ; next, a huge 
picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe, with tarnished gilded rays, blazes 
in the centre ; and near the corner is nailed a massive cross, with the 
%ure of our Saviour apparently bleeding at every pore. A reed and 
spear are crossed below it, and large wreaths and festoons of marigolds 
are hung around. Six tressels, with reeds spread over them, stand 
ao^ainst the wall ; and in one corner a dilapidated canopy, with a tattered 
curtain, rears its pretentious head to do the honors of state-bedstead 
The floor is of earth, and, in a corner, are safely stowed our saddles, bridles, 
guns, pistols, holsters, swords and spurs ; so that taking a sidelong glance 
at the whole establishment, you might well doubt whether you were in a 
stable, church, sleeping-room or chicken-coop ! 

Don Miguel Benito — the owner and proprietor of this valuable cata- 
logue of domestic comforts — received us with great cordiality. He is a 
man some fifty years of age ; delights in a shirt, the sleeves of which 
have been so long rolled up, that there is no longer anything to roll down , 
and a pair of those elastic leather-breeches that last one's life-time in 
Mexico, and grow to any size that may be required, as the fortunate 
owner happens to fatten with his years. Not the least curious part of 
Don Miguel's household, is his female establishment. He appears to be a 
sort of Grand Turk, as not less than a dozen women, of all colors and 
complexions, hover about his dwellings, while at least an equal number 
of little urchins, with light hair and dark, (but all with an extraordinary 
resemblance to the Don,) roll over the mud floors of the neighboring huts, 
or amuse themselves by lassoing the chickens. 

Q, J the caterer of our mess, thought it but a due compliment to Don 

Miguel, who does not disdain to receive your money, to order supper — 
though we resolved to fall back in case of necessity upon our own stores, 
and accordingly, unpacked some pots of soup and sardines. 

In the course of an hour, a board was spread upon four sticks, and in 
the middle of it M^as placed a massive brown earthen platter, with ^' 
stew. At the same time, a dirty copper spoon and a hot tortillia w. 
laid before each of us. Although we had determined to hol>i . urselv^s 
m reserve for our soups, yet there was but little left of the sa-vory mess. 



T H E A L C A L D E . 191 

Our turtle, flanked with lemons and claret, then came into play ; and the 
repast was ended by another smoking platter of the universal frijoles. 

Wild and primitive as was the scene among these simple Indians, I 
have seldom passed a pleasanter evening, enlivened with song and wit. 
When we crept to our reed tressels and serapes, at eleven o'clock, I found 
that the state-bed was already occupied by a smart-looking fellow from 
the West Coast, (who I take to have been rather deeply engaged in the 
contraband) and his young wife — a lively looking lass, rather whiter 
than the rest of the brood — who had spruced herself up on our arrival. 
Twelve of our party lodged together in that capacious apartment, while 
Don Miguel betook himself, with the rest of his household, to mats under 
the porch. 

22nd September. It rained heavily last night, but the morning, as usual, 
was fresh, clear and warm. After a cup of chocolate, we sallied forth 
toward the Cave of Cacahuawamilpa, having previously dispatched our 
arrieros with the mules to Tetecala, to await our return on our journey 
toward Cuautla. 

Our forces this morning were increased by the addition of some twelve 
or thirteen Indians, who had been engaged by Don Miguel to accompany 
us as guides to the cavern. They bore with them the rockets and torches 
which were to be burned within, and a large quantity of twine for thrid- 
ding the labyrinth. 

Leaving the lake, situated on the very edge of the table-land, we 
struck down a deep barranca, at the bottom of which our horses sunk 
nearly to their girths at every footstep, in an oozy marsh, that had not 
been improved by last night's rain. But passing these bogs, we ascended 
a steep line of hills, whence there was a splendid view of the snow-cap- 
ped volcanoes of Puebla, and soon reached the Indian village of Totla- 
wahmilpa, where it was necessary to procure a " license" to visit the 
cavern, or, in other words, where the authorities extort a sum of money 
from every passenger, under the plea of keeping the road open, and the 
entrance safe. As we had special passports from the Mexican Govern- 
ment to go where we pleased in the tierra caliente, I thought this precaution 
unnecessary, but our Indians refused to budge a peg without a visit to the 
Alcalde ; and therefore, while some of the party entered a hut, and set 
the women to cooking tortillias, others proceeded with the passports to the 
civic authorities. 

We found the Alcalde to be a stout old Indian, in bare feet, shirt sleeves, 
skin trowsers, and nearly as dark as an African. He was enjoying his 
leisure by a literary conversation with the schoolmaster who was his 
secretary, and the two were discovered in the midst of a host of ragged 
oys 'from eight to sixteen years old, seated on benches and learning their 
. -uters^ 

Theonoment we appeared, the Alcalde rose to receive us with great 
dignity,)^nd handing the passport to his secretary, he listened attentively 



192 MEXICO. 

while he heard that Mr. and Mr. , of the Diplomatic Corps, 

were fully authorized by the Supreme Government to travel wheresoever 
they pleased wiliiout let, hindrance, or molestation from any of the 
good citizens of the Mexican Republic. When the secretary had con- 
cluded the document, and the Alcalde had looked at it — upside down — 
and they had examined the signature of Yieyra and Bocanegra, and ex- 
pressed themselves perfectly satisfied of their genuineness, they retired 
to a corner for consultation. 

" The Senores," said the Alcalde, turning to me, " wish to see the cav- 
ern, and they have permission from the Alcaldes and Chiefs in Mexico 
to go where they please ; — this is true ; but that liberty does not refer 
to the Cave of Cacahuawamilpa, which is under ground, while the pass- 
port relates only to what is ahove ! The Seiiores must have a license from 
the prefect here, and, moreover, they must pay for it." 

I told him that the Diplomatic Corps never paid for any such permis- 
sions. He shrugged his shoulders and said that might be, and no doubt 
was all very true in the city of Mexico, but that it was not the custom 
here ; " los dvplomaticos must fare like other people and pay for a license." 

I thought of Stephens and his " broad seal ;" and I produced my pass- 
port from the Department of State with the coat of arms of the United 
States, and the signature of Mr. Webster ; but it was all Hebrew to the 
scribe ; the eagle was not the Mexican eagle, and " Welastair,''^ he had 
never heard of. He shook his forefinger from right to left, as if inti- 
mating that it was all a humbug, and that no such man was ever known in 
Mexico. They were old stagers in the matters of fees, and strangers did 
not drop down on such visits every day of the year ! 

While this by-scene was going on, the school exercises were, of course, 
suspended, and the pupils, with staring eyes and gaping mouths, listened 
to the discussion. At length, as time was rapidly passing, the Alcalde 
was asked liow much he wanted, and told that we would give him no ex- 
travagant sum. He named, I believe, ten dollars as his price, but we 
compromised for five — ^two of which were for the prefect, two for himself, 
and one for the secretary. As I was anxious to get the autograph of so 
distinguished a functionary, I asked him for a written license ; but he re- 
plied that it was not necessary. " You may go now," said he ; " no one 
will molest you ;" and turning to our guide : " The Seiiores are muy ca- 
balleros;" (which may be translated, ''very gentlemen") "take care of 
them, and at your peril, see that they come back safely." 

The secretary made a bow — the Alcalde another — our guide led the 
way, and we rejoined our party at the Indian hut, where they had half a 
dozen women baking tortillas as fast as they could pat them, for our 
breakfast at the cave. 

We lost no time, but mounting at once, pushed over a hill or two until 
we reached a small path leading through a corn-field, at the foot of which 
ran a clear and narrow rivulet. There we dismounted, and crossing the 
hill, the mouth of the cavern was pointed out on the opposite side of the 



CAVE OF CACAHUAWAMILPA. 193 

glen, half way up the mountain. The dell was filled with tangled vines 
and shrubbery, growing up among lofty trees that sprung amid the rocks 
and debris of the hill-side. The path to the bottom of it was steep, and 
so covered with tall grass and bushes that it became necessary to send an 
Indian with a machete to cut a path. 

On reaching the stream at the foot of the opposite side, the glen was 
found to be quite as tangled, and an Indian was again despatched to clear 
the way. As he cut, we climbed after each other, slowly and painfully 
over the sharp and rugged rocks. When near the top, however, and in 
sight of the entrance, a tall shelf of rock, slanting at a sharp angle with 
the hill, opposed itself to our farther progress. It was about four yards 
wide — below it the precipice plunged down almost perpendicularly for 
two hundred feet, while there was nothing to grasp but the bare surface 
of the rock, and a few threads of vines that grew from the fissures of the 
impending clifi". A ledge of about three inches had been chipped in this 
rock, along which it was necessary to pass. The barefooted Indians 
crossed as nimbly as cats, and those of our party who wore shoes fol- 
lowed with ease ; but I, in a pair of water-proof, thick-soled boots, and 
with not the steadiest head over steep places, found the transit exceedingly 
difficult. I hung on, however, by the vines, and succeeded in crossing 
in a very lubberly manner. 

The Indian women with our tortillas, and the detachment we had des- 
patched in the morning with our cold ham, beef and sardines, had already 
arrived. There was a huge rock with a flat surface, upon which we 
spread our viands — fruit, cocoanuts, and pines — and made as picturesque 
a breakfast table as ever was longed for by a pic-nic party within a hun- 
dred miles of London. 



CAVERN OF CACAHUAWAMILPA. 

I was one of the last to leave the entrance of the cave, which hangs m 
a huge arch of sixty feet span, fringed with a curtain of vines and trop- 
ical plants. Our party preceded me for some distance along the road 
that descends rapidly for the first hundred yards. Each one of the 
guides, Indians, and travellers, carried a light; and when I saw the 
swarthy crew, with their savage features, long hair, and outlandish dress, 
disappearing gradually until nothing was left but the dot-like glimmer of 
their torches in the distance, it seemed more like some spectacle of witch- 
craft in melodrama, than an actual scene occurring among folks on earth. 
I lit my torch and followed. 

The first hundred yards brings you to the bottom of the cavern, and, 
if not warned in time, you are likely to plunge at this season of the year, 
up to your knees in the water. You cross a small lake, and immedi 



194 MEXICO. 

ately before you, unrlcr the vast Gothic vault of the cave, rises a lofty 
stalagiTiiie pillar with a fringe falling from the top of it, formed of the 
brightest foam, congealed in a moment. A mimic pulpit springs from 
the wall, covered w^ith elaborate tracery, — and, hard by, an altar is 
spread with the fairest napkins, while, above it, depends a crystal curtain 
hanging in easy folds, each one of which flashes back the light of your 
torch as if carved from silver. 

We fastened the end of our twine to a pillar of the altar, and struck 
out westwardly, in the direction of the cavern. After a short distance we 
turned slightly to the south, and passing down a pile of rocks that had 
fallen from the roof, entered the second chamber. 

In the centre of tliis, a huge stalagmite has been formed. We called it 
the Tower of Babel. It is a lofty mass, two hundred feet in circum- 
ference, surrounded, from top to bottom, by rings of fountain-basins 
hanging from its sides, each wider than the other, and carved by the 
action of water into as beautiful shapes as if cut by the hand of a 
sculptor. An Indian climbed to the top of it, and firing a blue-light, illu- 
minated the whole cavern. By the bright, unearthly blaze, every nook 
and corner became visible, and the waters and carving of the fountain- 
tower stood out in wonderful relief. 

We penetrated to the third chamber. Here there was no centre column, 
but the effect was produced by the immensity of the vault. It appears as 
though you might set the whole of St. Peter's beneath it, with dome and 
cross. It is a magnificent cathedral ; the wall sheeted with stalactites, 
and the floor meandered by those arabesque troughs of pure white, and 
antique pattern, which we had seen at the Tower of Babel. 

An Indian fired a rocket, which exploded as it struck the top of the im- 
mense dome, and amid the falling stars, the detonation reverberated from 
side to side of the immense vault with the roar of a cannonade. A sheet 
of stalactite was struck, and it sounded with the clearness of a bell. Four 
Roman candles were lighted and placed on rocks midway up the temple 
sides, and they shed a faint illumination, like the twilight stealing through 
the fretted windows of an old cathedral. 

Beyond this chamber was a narrow path between the almost perpen- 
dicular rocks, and, as we passed, the guide crept through an entrance near 
the floor, and holding his torch alofl, so that the light fell as from an 
invisible source, displayed a delicious little cave, arched with snowy 
stalactites. In the middle rose a centre-table, covered with its fringed 
folds, and adorned with goblin nicknacks. It was the boudoir of some 
gnome or coquettish fairy ! 

Two rocks standing beyond this retreat, are the portals of another cham- 
ber, groined, like the rest, in Gothic arches with the tracery of purest sta- 
lactites, while its floor is paved all over with beautiful little globulai 
stalagmites. In a corner fountain, we found the skeleton head of a serpent, 

The path beyond this is nearly blocked up by immense masses that 
have fallen from the roof. Passing over these, you attain another vaulted 



CAVE OF CACAHUAWAMILPA. 195 

cathedral, bright as the rest with flashing stalactites, while its floor is 
covered knee-deep with water. The dark lake, lit up by the blaze of a 
dozen blue-lights and Roman candles and reflecting the flashing walls 
of the cavern, the torches of the party, and the tribe of attendant In- 
dians — would have made a picture for Martin. 

We had now penetrated nearly five thousand feet in the interior of the 
earth, and the guides said that the chambers were still innumerable be- 
yond. Persons have slept here and gone on the next day, but no termi- 
nation has yet been discovered. Some years since, in exploring beyond 
the usual limits, a party of travellers discovered the skeleton of a man ; 
his bones were white and dry, and the Indian guides, afl;er placing them in 
a heap, erected a cross on the top of it, with which they consecrated the 
whole cavern as the grave of the unknown dead. Whether he was a 
lost traveller, an absconding debtor, a suicidal lover, or a wretched mur- 
derer seeking concealment from vindictive pui'suers, no one can tell ! 

From this chamber we returned to the ezitrance by the clew of our 
twine. I scarcely remember anything so beautiful as the view, when we 
caught the first glimpse of daylight, shining, like a gray dawn, through 
the green drapery of vines that mantled the mouth of the cavern and re- 
flected on the lake-like pool. 



We returned to the foot of the hills, where we found our servants and 
horses, and refreshed ourselves from the fatigue produced by the incessant 
exercise and exertions of the last three hours. Retreating through the 
glen to Don Miguel's rancho, and paying him liberally for his entertain- 
ment, we bade farewell to this part of Mexico, and turned our faces 
eastward. 

We were obliged to return to-night to the village of Tetecala, and as 
the afternoon was already far advanced, we obtained a guide who knew a 
nearer cut over the mountain, than the road by which we reached the 
rancho on yesterday. 

Night came upon us before we had half finished our journey, and I 
know no more of the road from actual observation. It was pitchy dark, 
and there were a number of ravines and barrancas to pass ; but such 
is the unerring sure-footedness of animals of Mexico, that I reined my 
horse as near the guide as I could conveniently get, and followed the 
lead of his sagacious mule. From the manner in which the beasts climbed 
and slid over rocks, in the utter darkness, I have no doubt that the path 
was beset with many perils. After passing the mountain, we had to swim 
a river near thirty yards wide, which was considerably swollen by the late 
rains, so that, what with fatigue and danger, I was glad enough to reach our 
destination ; where the first salute from our entertainers, when they heard 



196 MEXICO. 

that we had made a night-march over the mountain, was, " Thank God, 
there were no accidents!" 

A smoking supper was soon on the table, and although our worthy 
hosts (who had not made a journey that day of near two thousand varas 
into the bowels of the earth,) were exceedingly anxious to proloDg the chat 
after our cheerful meal, we slipped off, one by one, to our cots and sofas. 
We have travelled seven leagues to-day, besides our pedestrian excursion . 
in the cave. 



HACIENDA OF SAN NICOLAS. 



2Srd Septemler. We left Tetecala this morning at eight o'clock, with 
the intention of passing to-night at the hacienda of St. Nicolas, which 

belongs to the Messrs. J . For the present at least we seem to have 

done with the mountains, as our road to-day lay entirely over the plain. 
During the three last days, we have been wandering among gigantic 
mountains and over wild moors, where the solitude of nature reigns in 
all its majesty ; but the picture varies in the direction of Cuatttla. The 
mountains sink into the plain which is extremely fertile, and cultivated 
with the nicest economy. 

About twelve o'clock we saw the hacienda lying in the distance, in the 
lap of the plain, with a small hill or two hard by, just large enough to 
vary the scenery. As we approached the white walled buildings we 
could not help remarking the uncommonly neat appearance of everything 
about the estate. The sugar-fields were in capital order, the roads smooth, 
the fences had been put up, the cattle were under the care of men. The 
Indian village, inhabited by many of the laborers on the estate, was tidy 
and comfortable, and there was a cleanness and decency in the appear- 
ance of the people, that I had not seen elsewhere. Indeed, the whole view 
of this plain, hemmed in by the distant summits of the mountains, reminded 
me strongly of some of the pictures of rural beauty constantly presented 
to the traveller in New England, and I was the more forcibly struck with 
this, when I looked from the corridor of the hacienda over the whole ex- 
panse of country, and saw it dotted here and there with villages and 
haciendas, the white towers of whose chapels rose up beautifully from an 
unbroken mass of verdure. 

We were received at this plantation by the administrador, or steward, 
who had been expecting us for an hour or more ; and though he had already 
partaken of his dinner, (believing that we did not intend visiting St. Nicolas 
to-day,) he immediately ordered another, in the meantime showing us to 
a large and cool apartment, containing a number of beds, where we made 
a hasty toilet. 

We took a siesta after dinner, and then walked with Don A. over the 
estate. The whole of the fields are planted with cane for a great dis- 



NATIVE MUSICIANS. ^1^7 

tance around the house, which forms, by itself, a very extensive establish- 
ment. 

First, there is the dwelling, a large two-story edifice, having in the 
basement all the offices, and the store where every necessary is sold to 
the Indians ; above this are the kitchens, parlors, bedrooms, and an im- 
mense corridor on arches, looking toward the east, filled with caged birds, 
and hung with hammocks, where the family pass most of the long warm 
days of summer. In front is the corral, on the west of which are the 
store-houses and buildings to receive the crop ; while on the east is another 
huge edifice where the boilers, engines, crushing machines, cooling vats, 
moulding apartments, &c., constitute the trapiche of the hacienda. It is 
a little city in itself 

At sunset, all the Indians employed on the premises assembled under 
the corridor on the basement floor, to account to the administrador for their 
day's labor and their presence. As he called their names, each one re- 
plied with " Alabo a Bios," — " I praise God," and ranged himself against 
the wall in a line with those who had already responded. When the whole 
list had been examined, they were dismissed, and departed in a body sing- 
ing an Indian hymn to the Virgin, the sounds of which died away in the 
distance as they plodded home over the level fields to their village. 

At night we heard the sound of a clarionet, bass-drum, and flute, at 
some distance from the dwelling, and on inquiry, discovered that a band 
of musicians had been organized in an adjoining village, by the owner of 
the hacienda. We mustered a company and strolled over. The whole 
of a large hut had been appropriated for a musical hall, where the per- 
formers were just assembling; while others, who had already arrived, 
were engaged in tuning their instruments. The leader was quite a re- 
spectable-looking Indian, decently dressed, who played the violin ; the 
clarionet player was fortunate in the possession of cotton drawers and a 
shirt; the bassoon had a pair of trousers but no shirit ; the serpent was 
the wildest looking Indian I ever saw, with long dishevelled black hair, 
and eyes worthy of his instrument; the big drum was a huge portly old 
negro, who reminded me of many of our performers on it at home ; while 
the octave flute was an urchin of not more than twelve, the wickedest 
little devil imaginable, but a fellow of infinite talent and a capital per- 
former. 

The night was rather too hot to permit us to remain long in the apart- 
ment with an Indian crowd ; we therefore took our seats outside, where 
we were favored by the self-taught amateurs with several airs from re- 
cent operas, performed in a style that would not have injured the reputa-. 
tion of many a military band at home. 

It may reasonably be judged, from a scene like this, that the Indians 
have talents for one of the arts requiring a high degree of natural deli- 
cacy and refinement. If it had been the care of all Spanish proprietors 
gradually to bring forth their latent dispositions, as the Senores J. have 
done, Mexico would now present a picture very different from that of the 



198 MEXICO. 

degradation which fills its valleys with a slothful, -ignorant, and debased 
multitude. 



When we returned to the house, we found that some travellers who 
passed in the course of the day, had given an account of robbers on the 
road we are to travel to-morrow. About two weeks since, seven armed 
and mounted ruffians attacked two Frenchmen and their servants near 
the hacienda of Trenta. One of the Frenchmen was severely wounded, 
but the other, aided by the two mozos, succeeded in beating off the rob- 
bers, who left one of their number dead on the field, and his horse and 
trappings as spoils for the victor. 



CUAUTLA DE AMILPAS AND HACIENDA DE STA. INEZ. 



24</t September. We left the hospitable hacienda of San Nicolas at 
4 o'clock this morning, and passed through a great nuniber of Indian 
villages, and some haciendas of considerable extent, especially that of 
Trenta, which derives its name from the fact that it was originally pur- 
chased for the sum of thirty dollars. With its village, its church, (nearly 
a cathedral in size,) its immense sugar works and princely domain, I 
suppose it could not be acquired now for much less than half a million. 

After enjoying a fine view of the volcano of Popocatepetl at sunrise, 
and passing the village of Tlaltisappan, we struck into the mountain gorges 
which we had been for some time approaching. The ground gradually 
rose, the glens and defiles became more numerous, and among the v/ild 
and tangled forests of these solitary mountains we passed many ill look- 
ing wretches, armed and mounted, but always in too small a number to 
attack our party. There is no doubt they were robbers, as several had 
their faces partly disguised, while their weapons were cocked and resting 
in their hands as they passed us. We cocked ours, also, and thus moved 
on fairly quits with the vagabonds. 

On the sides of these mountains, there were continuous groves of that 
tall pillar-like species of the cactus, which is called " organos." 

The heat became insufferable toward noon, and I felt, for the first time, 
weary of our journey among the lonely hills and defiles.. Our impa- 
tience to reach Cuautla was increased by the accounts of the Indians 
we encountered on the road, who invariably added a league or half league 
to the distance as we advanced. At length, however, after passing through 
a very extensive corn-field, which I computed to contain at least five hun- 
dred acres, we reached the valley of Amilpas, and, in half an hour more, 
entei'ed an Indian village bowered in the foliage of bananas and palms, 
through the midst of which ran a cool and sparkling streamlet. Here 



INN AT CUAUTLA. 199 

we halted to refresh ourselves, as the sun was blistering our skins and we 
burned with a fever that was scarcely mitigated by profuse perspiration. 
After leaving this village, Cuautla appeared immediately on our left, with 
a rapid river running by it ; while, in front, was the stately hacienda 
of Cuauwistla, belonging to the Dominican monks of Mexico, from the 
revenues of which a liberal sum is annually set apart for the entertain- 
ment of travellers. 

By some accident, the chief of our party had neglected to obtain a 
letter of introduction to any of the haciendas in the neighborhood of 
Cuautla, and we expected to procure comfortable accommodations at the 
inn of the town. We therefore pressed onward, without stopping at 
.Cuauwistla, where, I had no doubt, the general letter of introduction with 
which I had been favored by the Archbishop of the United States to all 
the Church in Mexico, would have procured us an immediate welcome. 

CuAXTTLA is a perfect Southern city. The houses are small and airy ; 
clear water gurgles through the middle of the street ; broad-leaved trees 
fling their branches over the low dwellings. The women loll, half-dressed, 
in the windows and doors, gazing at nothing or each other ; the men 
seem to have as little to do as the women, and the whole has an air of the 
"dolce far niente," which prevails in this mild and tempting climate. 

Passing through the square, we entered a bye-street and arrived at the 
door of the meson. 

I remembered immediately my experience at Perote, and the account 
given by Latrobe of Ms experience at this very inn. 

The gate of the court-yard was thrown open for us. In front lay a 
narrow lane, on one side of which was a shed, and beneath it a couple 
of sheep munching a stack of green corn in a corner, while a couple of 
turkeys picked up what they could find. On the roof a lot of sheep- 
skins, recently taken from the animal, were spread out to dry in the sun. 
At the end of the lane was the kitchen of the ineson, which seemed also 
to be the cobbler's stall of the burly landlord, who, tucking up his apron 
in front, ran out to salute us before we dismounted, followed by his stout 
wife, and a greasy scullion as fat, dirty, and disgusting as Maritornes. 

We inquired if he could "accommodate us?" "Si Seiioi'es, si Se- 
iiores!" said he, with a strong emphasis on the si, as if surprised at our 
even doubting for an instant the capabilities of his establishment. 

It will be remembered that we now numbered twelve in the party. 
We asked him (still without dismounting) to show us the rooms. 

From the end of the lane I have described, another struck off at right- 
angles with it, and both of its sides were adorned with a row of one-story 
windowless cabms, over the doors of which appeared, in true hotel fash- 
ion, the numbers 1. — 2. — 3. — 4. — 5. — 6. 



200 MEXICO. 

G got down to examine, and the landlord led the way. He first 

opened No. 3. It was eight feet long, about six wide, and ten high ; in 
one corner lay a pool of mud on the earthen floor, and the walls were 

literally black with fleas. G at once objected to this, and the landlord 

said that it was of course not intended for the Sefiores, but for the baggage 
and the mozos. He had "another, more comfortable " for ourselves; and 
stepping across the street, opened No. 6, which, from its exterior, appeared 
to be of the same size of No. 3. Scarcely had he turned the bolt — when 
out walked a full grown ass ! 

But our discontent did not satisfy the landlord — he did not see why we 
could not be " accommodated in rooms that were good enough for other 
folks — and we might praise the Virgin if we got better in Cuautla!" 

There was no time for discussion, however, and as we were hungry, 
and would rather betake ourselves to the fields and sleep under the trees 
than submit to the vermin of Cuautla, I proposed that we should return 
to Cuauwistla. In the meantime, however, Don Juan Black had be- 
thought him of all his friends in the village, and discovered that the 
administrador of Santa Inez was an old acquaintance who had often 
requested a visit in his journeys to the tierra caliente. 

It is true that we made a formidable party, with horses and mules, be- 
sides our own ravenous appetites, but Black insisted that he knew the 
people of the country, and that we would undoubtedly be welcome at the 
neighboring plantation. 

He was, therefore, at once put at the head of the troop, and we 
marched out of the court-yard under a shoWer of abuse from the cob- 
bling host — as a set of " caprichosos Ingleses, who deserved to rot on the 
road-side." His spouse and Maritornes fell into their parts of the denun- 
ciatory trio, as the hoof of the last horse struck his abominable gate-sill. 



The hacienda of Santa Inez is situated in the midst of sugar-fields to 
the north of the town, and the works, residence, chapel, and Indian vil- 
lage, are bordered by a beautiful stream among some of the finest forest 
trees I have seen in the Republic. I shall never forget the kind reception 
of Don Felipe Vargas ; — it was that of a tried old friend. Ample accom- 
modations and beds were offered us ; a meal (which, in apologizing for, 
he called a " penitencia,") was. quickly spread on snowy damask, served 
with a fine display of silver and excellent claret ; and the whole was sea- 
soned with a welcome that will mark Don Felipe in my memory, as a 
man to be trusted in times of difficulty. 



It was Saturday evening, and after a walk in the charming groves that 
border the brook and Indian village, from which there was a noble pros- 



INDIAN DEGRADATION. 201 

pect of the whole of Popocatepetl, with the sunset tinging its snows, we 
returned to the hacienda and took seats in the lower court, near the office 
where the clerk of the administrador was paying off the hands for their 
week's work. Here chocolate was handed us, served in the same tasteful 
style as our dinner. 

The hands were all mustered, and came up with the usual " Alabo a 
Dios !" to receive their weekly wages, as on last evening at San 
Nicolas. 

Don Felipe informs me, that all the ordinary expenses of this estate are 
$500 per week ; but during the working season they rise frequently to 
$1200. Three hundred laborers are usually employed at two and a half 
to three reals a day, and the total production of the hacienda is about 
40,000 loaves annually — the loaves averaging twenty-three pounds — or, 
in all, 920,000 pounds of refined sugar. Here, as elsewhere, the mo- 
lasses nearly pays the expenses. 

He complains greatly of the worthlessness of the Indians, and expresses 
hopes of improvement from the establishment of schools in Cuautla, where 
the young children learn rapidly, if they are allowed by their intemperate 
and gambling parents to continue in their classes. He alleges, that the 
greatest punishment for the Indians is to discharge and expel them entirely 
from the estate upon which they and their ancestors, from time immemo- 
rial, have worked ; but he intimates that other punishments are resorted 
to for trifling faults and excesses, and I doubt not the whip is made to play 
an important part in the discipline of Mexican plantations. 

Mr. Stephens, in his last work on Yucatan, gives a scene of this sort 
which he witnessed. "Looking into the corridor," he says, "we saw the 
poor Indian on his knees on the pavement, with his arms clasped around 
the knees of another Indian, so as to present his back fairly to the lash. 
At every blow he rose on one knee, and sent forth a piercing cry. He 
seemed struggling to retain it, bu*. it burst forth in spite of all his efforts. 
His whole bearing showed the subdued character of the present Indians, 
and with the last stripe the expression of his face seemed that of thank- 
fulness for not getting more. Without uttering a word, he crept to the 
major domo, took his hand, kissed it, and walked away. No sense of 
degradation crossed his mind. Indeed, so humbled is this once fierce 
people, that they have a proverb of their own : ' Los Indios no oyen sine 
por las nalgas' — the Indians only hear through their backs." 

In what then is this Indian population, throughout the planting, farming 
and mining districts, equal to our slaves 1 Although not hereditary prop- 
erty by LAW, they are hereditary by custom, and the force of those circurn- 
stances which deny them the opportunity of bettering their condition, either 
by emigration to foreign countries, or by diffusing themselves over their 
own. They form a degraded caste. They are subjected to the control 
of masters and overseers, and although it is true that they are regularly 
paid for their labor and habitual degradation, yet they are ignorant, gam- 
bling, intemperate, and liable at any moment to be submitted to the lash. 



202 MEXICO. 

against which, they have not the courage to offer the slightest resist- 
ance. With all the boast, therefore, of the authorities of Mexico, that no 
man is held in bondage within its limits, I still think that no candid person 
can inspect the condition of these laborers, without giving the palm to our 
negroes, — and exclaiming, indignantly, at the masked slavery which is 
carried on from year to year, without the slightest prospect of ameliorating 
the character or condition of the miserable natives. 

If a man become slave by descent, under the well-established laws 
of a nation by which the institution is recognized, he has always a 
master, whose duty it is to afford him food, raiment and protection, in 
recompense for his toil ; and although moralists may say that slavery is in 
its very nature deteriorating, yet it does not crush the very spirit from the 
negro, or tend always to his debasement. He is sober ; he cares for his 
family ; he feels the duties of the social relations, even in his " quarter ;" 
and is ambitious of the degree of respectability he may acquire among his 
fellow slaves. His condition must, therefore, both physically and intellec- 
tually, be superior to that of the Indian who becomes a slave, in spite 
of the law, by the servility of his character and the loathsome vices that 
absorb his earnings, without a care for the comfort of his family, the edu- 
cation of his children, or even the personal appearance he presents among 
his fellows. 

When we remember the degree of civilization that had been attained 
by these races, anterior to the Mexican conquest, it is impossible to believe 
that their present debasement is to be alone attributed to an enervating 
climate ; nor can Mexico ever claim a high standing among nations, until 
she blots this stain of hypocritical freedom from the fairest portions of her 
territory. With the improvement of the lot and character of her Indians, 
(who number near four millions of the seven that compose her whole popu- 
lation,) the steady advancement of the nation will proceed; but until that 
occurs, her fondest admirers can have but little hope, either for her pro- 
gress or even for her continuance as a nation. 



***** 

***** 
* « ♦ * * 

it * * * • 



Senor Vargas, with true Mexican hospitality, had an excellent supper 
prepared for us at nine o'clock ; but I was too much fatigued to partake 
of it, and retired to most comfortable quarters, having a bed entirely to 
myself, which I mention as a luxury 



TOWN OF CUAUTLA. 203 



CUAUTLA. 

25ih September. The next morning was Sunday. We arose early and 
went to the town of Cuautla, passing great numbers of Indians with half- 
shaved heads, on their way to the Sunday market, where they usually 
assemble in the Plaza to purchase and sell their commodities. As we 
reached the town, the bells were ringing for mass, and we strolled into sev- 
eral of the churches. One of them was being repaired, and the altars were 
filled with skulls and bones that had been taken up while the floor was 
undergoing the requisite renovation. In the parroquia or parish church, 
the stench from the dead bodies beneath the rough boards over which we 
trod, was so abominable that I hastened out of it, without examining some 
figures of Saints and Apostles done up in dresses that resembled very 
much the antique uniforms of the eighteenth century. Such anachronisms 
however are of frequent occurrence, and I have before alluded to them, 
in the instance where even our Saviour was represented in one of the 
most splendid churches of Mexico, in purple velvet robe and a Guayaquil 
sombrero ! 

In the square, there were hundreds of Indians under cane booths, on 
mats spread with fruits, skins, rebosos, scrapes, ices, orgeats, lemonade, 
vegetables, flowers, and all the varied products of the tierra caliente. 
I stepped into one and breakfasted on oranges, sponge cake and iced milk. 
The stores around the square were all open, and indeed I saw no cessa- 
tion of the usual week-day occupations, except among the Indians, who 
thronged the Plaza. The women, as on yesterday, lolled in the broad 
window-sills ; the men lolled opposite them, or leaned against the walls 
in the shade — and the excessive heat seemed to have predisposed every 
one, before ten o'clock, to a doze or a siesta. 

In one of the stores (while Don Juan was bargaining for a horse,) the 
owner showed me a centipede of the tierra caliente, a horrible reptile of the 
scorpion kind, with which he says the old houses of Cuautla are infested. 
These and the alacranes (a sort of cross of the spider on the scorpion,) are 
the scourges of the warm country, and the bite of both frequently results 
in the extreme illness of adults, and the death of children. 

As we were leaving the square, we met the cobbler landlord of the 
Cuautla inn. He was stumping along, with his apron rolled up, as on 
yesterday ; — he bit his lip and shook his head, as much as to say, " Let me 
ever catch you out on the hills, alone, old fellows !" 



We returned to the hacienda of Sta. Inez about noon, where a sump- 
tuous breakfast awaited us. After partaKing of it, and bidding a most 



204 MEXICO. 

reluctant farewell to our kind entertainer, we mounted and turned our 
faces northward, toward our home. 

A wide plain skirts the foot of the sierra that hems in the Valley of 
Mexico, and runs from the valley of Cuautla into that of Puebla. Over 
it lay our road this afternoon, and after passing one of those strange and 
deep barrancas, down which plunged a cascade of clear water for some 
two hundred feet, we commenced the ascent of the range of mountains 
forming the last barrier between us and the Capital. 

Scarcely had we mounted the hills, when it began to rain for the first 
time, during the day? since we left Cuernavaca, and I experienced imme- 
diately a remarkable change in the temperature, from the scorching heat 
in the square of Cuautla. Our scrapes were at once put on, and we wore 
them for the rest of the evening. 

Santa Inez is on the limit of the tierra caliente ; — at five or six miles 
distance the culture of the sugar cane ceases, and the tierra templada 
commences. 

We passed the beautiful Indian- village of Acaclauca, with its green 
leaves, chapels, and churches, in front of one of which I saw the last tall 
group of palm-trees, standing out with their featherj'^ branches relieved 
against the snow of Popocatepetl. It was a strange picture, mingling in 
one frame the tropic and the pole. 

Near eight o'clock the distant barking of dogs announced our approach 
to the village where we designed resting until morning. Small fires 
were lighted before each door, and by their light we meandered through 
half a dozen crooked and hilly streets before we reached the house of the 
worthy Don Juan Gonzales, (an old friend of the Consul,) who, at a mo- 
ment's notice, received us under his hospitable roof. 

Don Juan is a man " well to do" in the world of his little village ; — he 
keeps store, rents a room to a club of village folks, who like a drop of 
aguardiente or a quiet game of 7nont^ ; and, above all, has the loveliest 
girl in the tierra templada for a daughter. 

Don Juan ushered us ceremoniously into his long, low, back parlor. 
In one corner stood a picture of the Virgin with a lamp burning before it, 
while opposite was a table around which were gathered five of the neigh- 
bors in shirt sleeves, slouched hats, and beards of a week's growth, busy 
with a game of greasy cards, in the light of a dim "tallow." Ever and 
anon, the little sylph of a daughter brought in the liquor for the boors. 

It was Titania and Bottom — Ariel and the Clown, and I longed for the 

pencil of Caravaggio to sketch the gamblers, or of Retzsch to embody the 
whole spirit of the scene. 

After a frugal supper of tortillas and chocolate, we retired to feather 
beds and clean sheets on the floor, — but I was glad when we were called 
to horse at three in the morning. It had been a night of sore encounter ; 
an army of fleas attacked us, the moment we retired, with a vigor and 
earnestness that did justice both to their appetite and our blood. 



INNATTENANGO, 205 



AYOTLA. 

26th September. We were off at half-past three, by the moonlight of a 
cold and frosty morning, and the first streak of day found our troop 
winding high up the spur of hills that juts out from the sides of Popoca- 
tepetl, which was in full view, with the clouds rolling off from its lofty 
head as the sun rose. 

Behind us, for near twenty leagues, the tierra caliente extended dis- 
tinctly until the view was bounded by a bold and craggy sierra. We 
wound upward through the hill farms, hanging against the sides of the 
mountains, and among the pine forests, through whose branches a cold 
autumn wind was whistling. The road was lined with crosses, many 
of them recently erected, and hung with garlands and flowers. — It is a 
dangerous pass and infested by hordes of robbers, who attack the travel- 
lers either passing from Cuautla to the Valley of Mexico or returning 
with the proceeds of their sales. 

Beyond the village of Hoochietipec we lost sight both of the plain of 
Cuautla and the tierra caliente, and soon afterward the Valley of Mexico 
appeared to the west. 

At Tenango we stopped to breakfast and to wait for Pedro, who had 
been missing for the last two hours, having lingered behind with a lame 
horse. 

Our inn was a small rat hole of a meson for muleteers, with a corral of 
a couple of acres; but the whole establishment bore the sounding name 
of the " PurisimM Sangre de Christo!" 

We found, to our sorrow, that we were no longer in the land of rich 
haciendas and hospitable administradors. The old song of " no hai !" 
had recommenced. Tortillas, chile, molle, pan, pulque, agua ? — "No 
hai!" With a little coaxing, however, we got one of the women of the 
house to seek out the remnant of corn from their breakfast, which was 
soon ground into tortillas. As we were beginning to devour them, Don 
Juan espied an Indian bearing a couple of earthen jugs of milk, with 
one of which and our leathery cakes, we managed to stay our stomachs 
till dinner. Pedro had not yet come up with us, and as it was decided 
to wait for him, I laid down on a rock at the door of the meson and slept 
soundly. 

After an hour's delay, during which the servant did not appear, and 
presuming that he might have passed by some other road (as he was well 
acquainted with this part of the country,) we again mounted, and descend- 
ing by a series of inclined planes, speedily reached the level of the vale 
of Mexico. 

This valley is exceedingly different from the tierra caliente. Although 
the temperature is milder, yet everything is dry, parched, withered and 
volcanic. The hill-sides and mountains are stripped of their forests — the 



206 MEXICO. 

fields are arid — the grain small and unproductive — and the whole has a 
waste and moor-like appearance. The Indians seem even dirtier, if pos- 
sible, than those we have left behind us, and the patient, mules travel over 
the long and dreary sands as if in a new Arabia. 

Passing through several mud-walled villages, we came at length upon 
the Vera Cruz road and reached the town of Ayotla, seven leagues from 
Mexico, about four in the afternoon. Here we found Pedro waiting for 
us at the door of the inn, having passed through the village of Tenango 
while we were enjoying our tortillas and milk within doors. 



We rest here during part of to-night, and to-morrow at daylight we 
intend to reach home, after a journey of just three hundred miles on 
horseback, without robbery, accident or illness. 

There are no beds for us to-night, so 1 shall stretch myself on the floor 
with my saddle-bags for a pillow. How relative are all our comforts, 
or ideas of comfort ! If a man is really hungry he can eat unbuttered 
bread. If a man is really sleepy he can repose on a floor, and the hard- 
ness of the planks will never wake him. We begin life by finding noth- 
ing soft enough but our mother's bosom — we go on to the cradle — we rise 
to the crib — we aspire to the cot — and, at last, arrive at the dignity of a 
French bedstead with mattress and tambour ! We think we never can 
sleep out of this last extreme of modern comfort — and, scarcely even out 
of our own. Yet nothing is easier. I commenced this journey, little 
more than a week ago, by sleeping on a sacking-bottom — and, after going 
through all the variations of tressels, canes, beds, cots, and hammock, at 
last came down to the floor and my saddle-bags, where I slept just as 
soundly and refreshingly. 

Yet I would recommend every one who is about to travel through the 
tierra caliente, to procure a hammock of Sisal grass. With this, he is 
entirely his own master ; and surely no mode of sleeping is more luxuri- 
ous in a hot climate. You swing it from the rafters of the room — it is 
above the floor, clear of the walls and free from insects — it bends to each 
motion of the body, fitting neatly to every part of your frame — you set it 
in motion, and while it swings you to sleep, it fans and refreshes by its 
gentle waving through the air. 



Besides the beautiful scenery through which I have passed during this 
journey, nothing has impressed me so favorably as the unaffected hospi- 
tality we met with everywhere, whether we came introduced or not. The 
old phrase " Mi casa, Seiior, esta muy a su disposicion :" " My house is 
entirely at your service," was not a phrase of course — a mere formula to 
be gone through and forgotten. Their houses, their animals, their serv- 



BURIAL OF SANTA ANNA'S LEG. 207 

ants and themselves were all at our command, and with a cordiality that 
forbad the idea of an arriire pens^e. 

Living in the country, at a distance from large towns, with but little 
literature and few and irregularly received newspapers, the hacendados 
and their administradors are glad to welcome the traveller as a guest to 
their doors. With ample means of accommodation and entertainment, 
they enjoy as well as confer a favor, and are as thankful for your visit, 
as you are to them for their repasts and attentions. You feel that the 
account is fairly balanced, and that the other little elegancies and assidui- 
ties which are thrown in for your comfort are the result of genuine hospi- 
tality, and the promptings of excellent hearts. They are no^le, liberal, 
generous gentlefolks ; and I hope again to travel in the Uerra caliente, 
and meet a few Senor Sylvas, Don Antonios, and Don Felipes. 



HOME. 

27lh Septemher. We left Ayotla at half-past two this morning, and 
arrived at the city gates just after sunrise, as the cannons were firing in 
honor of the day which is to he celebrated by the entombment of the re- 
mains of Santa Anna's leg that was shot off at the lattle of Vera Cruz in 

1838 ! 



The principal streets were covered with an awning ; the military came 
out in all their finery ; the chief functionaries of the Government united 
in the procession ; and thus, the limb of the President — cut off in 1838 — 
buried since then at Vera Cruz — disinterred and brought to the Capital in 
1842 — and now, laid in a crystal vase — was borne to the cemetery of 
Santa Paula, where it was deposited in a monument erected to receive 
it by the Commissary-general of the Mexican army ! 

A solemn eulogium (on the President — not the leg) was then pro- 
nounced by Senor Sierra y Rosa, and the ceremonies in honor of the 
precious relic were concluded. 

A caustic "Protest of the dead bodies of the cemetery against the recep- 
tion of the limb among them," — was soon afterward found on an adjacent 
tomb. 



LETTER XXIV. 



ACCOUNT OF AN ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF THE VOLCANO OF POPOCATEPETL. 




INTERIOR OF THE CRATER OF POPOCATEPETL. 



It is impossible to cast your eyes eastwardly over the plain, without 
having your view bounded by the lofty peaks of Popocatepetl — " the 
smoking mountain,'^ and its neighbor Iztaccihuatl — or '' the white woman" — 
lifting their snowy heads far above the level of the wall-like sierra that 
hems in the Valley of Mexico, I had ardently longed to climb one of 
these mountains to survey the adjacent plains from its craggy crater, 
but I was constantly doomed to disappointment. Several parties that 
were made up, failed at the fixed time, and the rainy season coming 



f 



ASCENT OF POPOCATEPETL. 209 

on, I was forced to abandon the enterprise entirely. In the course, how- 
ever, of my preparations for an ascent, I had enjoyed frequent conversa- 
tions with Mr. Egerton, and Mr. Von Gerolt, the Prussian Charge d' Affaires, 
on the subject; and by these gentlemen (who have both ascended the 
volcano,) T was put in possession of the preceding drawing and the sub- 
stance of the following account, which has hitherto never been given in 
our language. As I think it extremely interesting, when compared with 
the various published accounts of the ascent of Mont Blanc and other 
mountains in the Old and New World, I shall rnake no apology for pre- 
senting it to you in this volume. The volcano lies about 60 miles from 
the city of Mexico, and, after Chimborazo, is the highest peak on this 
continent. 

At the commencement of the rainy season of 1833, Mr. Von Gerolt and 
the Baron Gros, then Charge of the French Legation in Mexico, departed 
from the Capital on horseback, escorted by a troop of soldiers to. protect 
them from robbers, and followed by mules and servants bearing the neces- 
sary philosophical instruments and sufficient provisions for the journey. 

They sallied forth on the Vera Cruz road, between the lakes of Tez- 
coco and Chalco, for eight leagues, to Ayotla^^i<|tev'ond which they struck 
off in a southwardly direction, and, at the c^^fcffce of five leagues more, 
commenced the ascent of the Cordillera, on the summit of which a table- 
land is spread out about 800 feet above the level of the city. On this 
plain they passed the villages of Ameca and Ozumba at the foot of the 
volcano and its neighboring mountain, and here they found the first signs 
of those immense barrancas or deep ravines, worn into the steeps by the 
melting of snow for centuries. 

The southern slope of Popocatepetl appeared to offer our travellers the 
easiest ascent, and, accordingly, having obtained three Indian guides from 
the Alcalde, and an escort of two soldiers, for the wilds of the forest, they 
set forth on their perilous journey early on the morning of the 2'2nd 
of May. Their way led through a tangled wilderness of plants and trees. 
Afler passing a number of barrancas, the sides of which were covered 
with beautiful pines standing out in relief against the bright snows above 
them ; and being compelled to cut a way through the matted forest with 
their swords and Indian axes, they reached, about noon, the rancho of 
Zacapalco. The owner was absent from home, but they found the exten- 
sive pasturages round his house filled with cattle, and protected by a 
guard from the wolves and lions with which the woods are infested. As 
there was no one in the dwelling to bid them welcome, they took the lib- 
erty to help themselves to the grazier's utensils, and dined most comfort- 
ably at the upland farm. The air was chilly and respiration had already 
become difficult. 

After their meal they bade farewell to part of their company, and with 
the Indians and two servants, continued their upward course on horseback 
notwithstanding the increasing heaviness of the sand. In two hours they 



210 



MEXICO. 



attained the limit of vegetation, when they saw but a few pines — whose 
gnarled and twisted branches exhibited scarcely a sign of verdure. Some 
small singing birds flew by them, and the plants they had observed in 
the course of their ascent thus far, are mentioned in the subjoined note.* 

At this spot our travellers found a wide desert of black volcanic sand, 
covered with fragments of pumice. They were soon warned of approach- 
ing difficulties. The clouds gathered in thick masses around the top of 
the volcano portending a storm ; and, scarcely had they retreated again 
to their tent, when it came down on them with all the mercilessness of a 
tropical hurricane. For several hours during the ensuing night the sur- 
rounding wastes were lit up with incessant flashes of the most brilliant 
lightning, shooting from the clouds above and lelow them, and at times 
even streaming horizontally along the wastes of dreary sand, crashing the 
branches of the forest and rending the stoutest pines. They seemed, en- 
veloped in flame — yet they had no protection from the fury of this storm 
of hail and thunder but a scanty cloth, thrown over the limb of a tree and 
pegged to the ground ! 

Thus passed the night until four o'clock. When day dawned, they 
found the mountain covered with snow, and the summit entirely enveloped 
in clouds. Nevertheless they resolved to proceed, and, with the greatest 
difficulty, prevailed on the Indians to accompany them. 

For a league and a half farther, they advanced on horseback, but the 
pathway became so deep and yielding in the sand, that they were forced 
to dismiss their servants with the animals, and continue with the guides 
alone. The toil of ascending on foot now commenced, and they describe 
it. as one of the most agonizing they ever underwent; sliding back half 
the distance they had made in advance at every footstep, and laboring 
with the increased circulation to such a degree that they could scarcely 
breathe. Yet they persevered resolutely for several hours, until the ill- 
shod Indians, whose feet were cut by the snow and sands, gave out en- 
tirely, and the Baron and Mr. Von Gerolt were forced to proceed wholly 
unattended. It was about this time that the sun broke out from the clouds, 
for which (although they disregarded it then,) they paid dearly enough 
in the sequel. 

At noon, after immense fatigue and exertions, they found themselves at 



• Salvia, three species. 




Ijobelia, three species. 


Baccharis. Cineraria, four 


species. 


Stevia. do. do. 


Acacia. 




Jjeonia-salvifolia, do. do. 


Oestrum, two species. 




CEnotera, do. do. 


Asclepias, do. do. 




t'uctisia. 


Iresine, do. do. 




Achyrophorus roseus. 


Arbutus, do. do. 




Those nearest the limit of vegetation wei»i 


Gupatorium, do. do. 




Chelone, gentianoides. 


Hedyotis, three 


species. 


Amaryllis, minuta. 


Viburnum, do. 


do. 


Phffilia. 


Coroepsia, do. 


do. 


Costilleja. 


Myosotis erandifiora, do. 


do. 


Lupinus-vaginatui. 


do flor. alb. do. 


do. 


Ribes, odoratum. 


Stacbys, do. 


do. 


Aienaria biyoidet 



ASCENT OF POPOCATEPETL. 211 

the steep basaltic rock which is visible from Mexico, sticking like a thorn 
out of the volcano's side, and is called the Pico del Fraile — sixteen thou- 
sand eight hundred and ninety-five feet above the level of the sea — and 
apparently but a short distance from the summit of the cone. 

Nevertheless, this was doomed to be the limit of their present enterprise. 
As soon as they had refreshed themselves by a little repose, they endeav- 
ored to trace a path upward from the rocks ; but everything was covered 
with ice and snow. None of the ravines were bare, as usual at this sea- 
son, when they are generally traversed by torrents on their way to the 
valley. All was a waste of cloud and frost. 

In addition to these physical dangers — the day was far advanced ; 
there was no place where they could be sheltered, or where they would 
not freeze to death during the night if they advanced. They had no food 
— and they were already wearied by an eight hours' march in a rarefied 
atmosphere. Disagreeable as was the alternative, it was resolved to 
retreat to the rancho, which they reached at sunset, suffering the most 
excruciating agony in their eyes and faces from the effects of the reflec- 
tion of the sun from the brilliant snow. 

After a night of pain and sleeplessness they returned next morning to 
Ozumba, whence they reached the Capital after a delay of a couple 
of days. 

This unfortunate termination of their enterprise, however, did not dis- 
hearten them. In the following year they again undertook the ascent, 
and were accompanied on that occasion by Mr. Egerton, the distinguished 
artist, who was murdered last year at Tacubaya. 

On the 28th of April, 1834, they departed early in the morning from 
the village of Ozumba, accompanied by three guides, two of whom were 
the brothers Paez, their companions of the previous year. They were 
now better prepared with comforts and necessaries for their journey, and, 
besides, had provided themselves with staves, some fifteen feet in length, 
shod with iron, to aid in leaping from rock to rock and steadying them on 
the slippery snow. 

Reaching the limit of vegetation at three in the afternoon, they pitched 
their tents, lighted their camp-fires, and after making out the route for the 
next day, passed a few hours of comfort and repose. At two a. m., on 
the 29th, they were astir by moonlight, and continued the ascent for 
nearly an hour and a half on horseback, when, as on the former occasion, 
they were obliged by the heavy sands to dismount and proceed on foot. 
They were still, however, accompanied by the three guides and one serv- 
ant, who bore their provisions and instruments. In this manner they ad- 
vanced in the direction of the Pico del Fraile, veiling their faces, to 
protect their eyes and skin from the reflection by which they had been so 
much injured and annoyed last year ; and thus they passed the broad 
belt of volcanic sand between the limits of vegetation and eternal snow. 

At half-past seven the view was sublime. The immense plains and 
valleys were spread below them like a sea — and as the sun rose, the 



212 MEXICO. 

gigantic shadows of the volcano lay over the western levels even to the 
distant horizon. 

At half-past eight the party had attained the Pico — and in the shelter 
of the porphyrytic rock that shoots upward near two hundred feet, they 
made a slight and comfortable breakfast. But as no promises could in- 
duce the Indians to go farther, they were obliged to leave behind many 
of their most valuable instruments, and among them, a theodolite, with 
which they had designed making some interesting observations and ex- 
periments on the summit. They took, however, a barometer and a 
Daniell's hygrometer, and set out, accompanied by Mr. Egerton's servant, 
(a youth of eighteen) the only person who mustered courage to accom- 
pany them. 

A spur of rocks which strikes upward from the Pico del Fraile impeded 
their progress in a direct line, and it became necessary to strike off east- 
wardly through a deep ravine formed by one side of this spur or crest, 
and a similar spur that descends in that direction from the summit. 
This ravine faces the south, and through its comparatively warmer bed 
the melting snows discharge themselves into the vale of Amilpas. They 
continued ascending over the bottom of the barranca at an angle of thirty- 
five degrees, finding but little snov/, although the eternal limit of it was 
two or three thousand feet below them. After three hours of difficult and 
dano-erous labor, on the sharp and slippery surface of the rocks, they 
reached the upper end of the gorge where it terminates in the solid lava 
forming the dome of the volcano. Thenceforward their path was con- 
stantly over snow, and, although they frequently sank through it up to 
their waists, they describe the difficulties as less than while passing the 
slippery rocks and sands of the washed barranca. Over these snows 
they zig-zagged for a while longer — stopping at almost every step to 
gather strength and breath, until, at half-past two, they stood upon the 
lofty summit. 

Until that moment they had observed no symptoms of a crater ; — but the 
vast gulf now burst upon them at once, yawning at their feet, filled with 
curling vapors that rose to near the edge and mingled with the clouds. 

The highest point of the crater is described by Mr. Von Gerolt as lying 
to the westward, and the lowest to the east. Its shape is that of an 
irregular ellipse, the greatest diameter of which is between the NE. and 
SE. This he estimates to be nearly five thousand feet, while the shorter 
is about a thousand less, making the whole circumference of the crater, 
therefore, nearly a league. Its rough walls plunge to a depth of a thou- 
sand feet, and the bottom (although of the same shape) has not the same 
huge dimensions as th^ upper rim. 

As the sun penetrated the lowest depths of the crater, our travellers 
distinctly saw its base, from which two fountains of sulphur constantly 
poured forth a whitish smoke that rested on the rocks of the steep walls, 
and deposited its residuum among the cracks and crannies. The base 
and sides appeared to be entirely crusted with sulphur, and they judged 



THE CRATER 213 

that the narrower dimensions of the base are altogether owing to the im- 
mense accumulation of that material for centuries. On the upper edge 
of the crater, the snow— drifted by the winds— curled over the sharp 
ledges, but there were no indications of sulphur on the nearest rocks. 
Yet, in various parts of the rim, there were circular vents, from two to 
five' inches in diameter, whence a sulphurous steam issued with a roaring 
sound, intermitting at intervals in strength and volume. 

In order to examine these valves more closely, Mr. Von Gerolt de- 
scended about sixty feet into the crater, over masses of red porphyry. 
These contain much vitreous feldspar and approach the character of porous 
lava, while the immense wall of the opposite side seemed to be composed 
of different rock, —and, through the telescope, appeared in color of a violet 
gray, deposited in horizontal strata, resembling the material of the vol- 
canic hill near Ayotla. 

Our adventurers discovered no place by which they could reach the 
bottom of the crater, nor could they continue their examinations on the 
summit for any great length of time, as their sufferings were intense from 
the rarefaction of air, expansion of blood, a continual aching of their 
eyes and brows, and excessive debility. They conclude, from these facts, 
that the story related by Cortez in his letters to Charles V., that Fran- 
cisco del Montaiio had descended into this gulf and " obtained sulphur 
from which they made their powder," is entirely inaccurate. 

The silence at this immense height is described by Mr. Von Gerolt as 
" sepulchral," broken only at intervals by a subterraneous roar, like the 
sound of a distant cannonade, and the rattling of stones and masses of rock 
falling from the walls to the bottom of the crater. A similar sound is said 
to be frequently heard, even in the city of Mexico, in the direction of 
Popocatepetl. The frequent earthquakes that are felt in the Republic, 
heaving the whole land from the Gulf to the Pacific, from east to west, 
like the undulations of the sea, and manifesting themselves at all the points 
where there are indications of volcanic action on the surface, can only be 
accounted for by the hypothesis, that at a great depth, all these volcanoes 
(separated near their summits by transition and volcanic rock,) have a 
general communication over some vast central furnace, where the ele- 
ments are in continual ferment. 

It is related that, in the great earthquake of March, 1834, at half-past 
ten at night, the phenomenon was announced by regular oscillations of 
the earth from east to west, augmenting gradually until it became diffi- 
cult to stand erect, while hundreds suffered as from the nausea of sea- 
sickness. The arches of the aqueduct, by which water is introduced 
into Mexico, (running in an easterly direction,) were split in their 
centres, " while the one that comes from the north remained uninjured. 
This earthquake was experienced nearly at the same moment in Vera 
Cruz, St. Andres Tuxtla, Huatusco, (a village eight leagues from the 
volcano of Orizaba,) Jalapa and Puebla; but, singularly enough, it was 
not felt three leagues north of Himtusco, or at a few leagues both north and 



214 MEXICO. 

south of the city of Mexico. Proceeding westward from the Capital, it was 
perceived again in Morelia, and it became so violent in the direction 
of Acapulco, that it destroyed houses, cracked the earth, and finally 
plunged into the sea, whose waves rose and swelled as under the influ- 
ence of a violent storm. During its continuance of nearly five min- 
utes, there were no meteoric phenomena worthy of note, no subterranean 
noise, and no perceptible change in the altitude of the barometer, in the 
city of Mexico. 

Standing on the summit of Popocatepetl and looking over the immense 
panorama — which now lay spread like a map at his feet — Mr. Von Gerolt 
compared his repeated examinations of the geology of the valley and of the 
adjoining departments, and he came to the conclusion, that both the volcano 
and the vale owe their origin and present condition to some violent erup- 
tion, by which the actual surface has been raised from the interior to its 
present level, through the primitive and transition rocks ; and that in the 
mining districts of the states of Puebla, Mexico and Michoacan, the rich 
veins, manifested in slaty formations, or in metallic porphyry, are but the 
trifling remains or islands, as it were, left rising above the plain, after the 
fiery deluge that swept over portions of our Continent. 

But (turning to the prospect around them, from the examination of the 
crater of that vast stack, which pours forth the smoke and vapors of the 
central fires, and acts, perhaps, as the great safety-valve of a large part 
of the New World,) the travellers speak of the immense picture that lay 
before them as indescribably sublime. 

The day was remarkably clear. Few clouds, and those very high in 
the air, appeared against the sky, which was almost black with the inten- 
sity of its azure ; and, as far as the eye could reach, in every direction, 
there was one uninterrupted waving of mountain, valley and plain, until 
(almost without a horizon) the earth and the sky blent in vapory blueness. 
In the midst of the eastern plain, the tall cone of Orizaba stood up in bold 
relief against the sky, with its snowy peak glittering like a point of flash- 
ing steel. Below them, near two thousand feet, lay the summit of Iztac- 
cihuatl, covered with snow, and exhibiting not the slightest evidence either 
of crater or volcanic action. 

After enjoying this splendid panorama as long as their enfeebled con- 
dition would allow them, erecting a flag-staff*, and making the sketch I 
have placed at the commencement of this letter ; — the travellers, at four 
o'clock, began a descent, which they describe as not the least difficult 
portion of their enterprise. If they complained of the toilsome slowness 
of climbing, they could now with equal justice complain of the dangerous 
swiftness of their return. The day was far advanced ; the cool wind 
of the evening had already frozen the surface that melted under the noon- 
day sun, and, passing over the sands and snows at a sharp angle, thev 



TOPOGRAPHIC ELEVATIONS. 215 

were often violently precipitated either against masses of rocks, or to the 
very verge of precipices, from which they only saved themselves by the 
firmness of their nerves and the strength of their iron-shod staves. At 
length, however, after several yery narrow escapes, they reached the limit 
of the forest, and in a few days returned to Mexico in excellent spirits. 

.By the failure of the Indians to ascend with them to the summit, they 
were unable to make many experiments, for which the great scientific 
acquirements of Mr. Von Gerolt so highly qualify him. In addition to 
this, the barometer, which had been slung on the back of Mr. Egerton's 
servant, was broken by a fall ; so that (as far as measurements were con- 
cerned,) the expedition was entirely fruitless. I have, however, compiled 
from the notes of two other parties, the following statements, which are 
interesting, as affording the most accurate dimensions of this remarkable 
volcano : ' 

Mr. Berbeck, who ascended on the 10th of November, 1837, gives the 
elevation of Popocatepetl, above the Valley of Mexico, at 10,382 feet. 
Mexico is above Vera Cruz, according to Humboldt, - 7,470 



Whole height of volcano above the sea, - . - 17,852 

Mr. Glennie, who ascended 20th April, 1837, gives the elevation of 
Popocatepetl, above the Valley of Mexico, at - - 10,413 feet. 
Mexico above Vera Cruz, according to Humboldt, - 7,470 

17,883 
By a series of observations, made at Vera Cruz in 1828, the opinion is, 
that, the true height of Mexico above Vera Cruz, or in other words, above 
the level of the sea, is 7,548 feet, which, added to their elevations above 
the Valley of Mexico, will give us, for 

Berbeck, - - - - 17,930 feet. 

Glennie, - - 17,961 

While Humboldt, (who gives his by trigonometrical ob- 
servations,) .-...-.. 17,715 

The limit of all vegetation, according to Glennie, is - 12,693 

Pico del Fraile, - - 16,895 

Limit oi pines, • - - • - - - . 12,544 

In November, 1827, the thermometer, at the summit, was 22° of Fahr. 
and in April of the same year, 33°. 

At the limit of vegetation, Mr. Von Gerolt found, at 6 p. m., the precip : 
of moisture, by Daniell's hygrometer, 36° Fahr. on the interior ther- 
mometer; and at 50° in the atmosphere. Water boiled at 194° Fahr. 
Barometer, 19.12, English. Temperature, 48° Fahr. Correspond, 
ing observations, made in Mexico, gave 23.071 English inches, from 
which we deduce a height of - - - 5,144 English feet. 
To which add 7,548 

12,692 



216 



MEXICO. 



which is within one foot, it will be perceived, of the height assigned V. 
this spot by Mr. Glennie. 

I present you with a sketch of the outline of the mountain, on which 
the different elevations are marked, so that the whole of these measure- 
ments will be at once mapped out before you. 







12693fi. 



IS'iS AaOVt THE LEVEL OF THE SFA. 



OUTLINE OF POPOCATEPETL. 



* This is a difficult word to pronounce, but it is easy in comparison with many of the Indian words you may 
hear uttered every day in the markets of Mexico. 

•' Nothing," says Humboldt, •' strikes the Europeans more in the Aztec, Nahualt, or Mexican language, than 
theexcessive length of the words. This length dees not always depend on their being '^°^^'^^"'f'^l'"J'^^ 
Greek, tl,e German, and the Sanscrit, but on the manner of forming the substantive, the plural, or the uperla 
tive A kiss is called UtmnamiQuiliztli ; a word formed from the verb tennamiQm, to embrace and the addi- 
tive particles tc and Ihtli. In the same manner we have tlatoiona, to ask, and tctlatolavihzth. a demand ; tlc^- 
hioviltm, to torment, and leaa^yMovMUiztlu torment. To form the plural, the Aztecs m severa words double 
the first syllable; ^miztli, acat; viimiiti,,, cat.; toclMi, a rabbit; totochtm, rabbits. TtrMs the termmat.on 
which indicates the plural. ?ometimes, the duplication is made in the midst of a word ; for instance, zcAp»cAf.Z«, 
a girl ; ichpopocUUr, , girls; telvochtlL a boy ; telpopochtin, boys. The most remarkable example 1 have met 
with of a real composition of words, is found in the word amatla^mlolitguitcatiaxUmmilh, which signifies, the 
reward-given-to-the-messenger-whc-carries-a-paper-on-which-is-painted-tidings. This word, which forms by 
itself an Alexandrian line, contains amatZ. paper (of the agave;) c«,7oa. to paint, or trace hieroglyphics ; and 
tiaxtiato-«i. the wages or salary of a workman." The word «ot/ar«matote.p&catatz^«, which signifies 
venerable-priest-whom-I-cherish-as-my-faUier. is used by the Mexicans in addressmg tlie pries^. ^^ Je ^^^J 
language, the letters B, D, F, G. and R, are wanting."-HuMBOLDT's Researches, vol. ii. p. 246. Pol. Essay 
vol. i. p. 139. 



JOURNAL OF AN EXCURSION TO 

T EZCOCO, 
THE PYRAMIDS OF TEOTIHUACAN, 

THE HILL OF TEZCOSINGO, 
&c . & c . & c . 



I LEFT Mexico on the seventh of October, with some friends, to visit the 
ancient city of Tezcoco, and the Pyramids of St, Juan Teotihuacan. 
There are two routes ; one by the road around the southern margin of the 
lake, and another by the Indian canoes across the lake itself. We selected 
the latter, and rendezvoused at the gate of San Lazaro, where the canal 
enters the city. There was some difficulty in finding a boat, as we had 
delayed beyond the hour when the vessels usually leave the city, on their 
return to Tezcoco ; but L , who was well acquainted with the neigh- 
borhood, beat up the usual haunts of the Indians about the pulque shops, 
and, by dint of persuasion and clacos, induced a couple of stout rowers to 
launch their vessel. 

In half an hour we found ourselves on board a flat-bottomed scow, under 
an awning of mats stretched over saplings, and reclining at full length on 
the bedding with which we had luckily provided ourselves, against the 
wants of Tezcoco. 

For nearly a mile from the city gate, the canal leads through a tangled 
marsh, tenanted exclusively by mosquitos. The stings of the annoying 
insects were not idle on' our skins,- and I scarcely ever suffered so much 
as in reaching the waters of the lake through these foul and desolate fens. 
We, however, soon found our way out of them, stopping for a moment at 
the Peiion Viejo, a small volcanic hill or pustule rising from the plain, 



218 MEXICO. 

where there are" warm baths,* and the remains of some ancient sculpture, 
of no great significance. 

On attaining tiie lake itself, the view was exceedingly beautiful. The 
expanse is a clear and noble sheet, reflecting on its calm bosom every hill 
and mountain of the valley, while to the north (where it unites with San 
Cristoval) the lakes and horizon are blended. Yet it is singular, that, 
sounding in the deepest central part of the lake, we obtained lut two 
feet and a half of water ! The boatmen poled the entire distance of 
twelve miles, and on every side we saw fishermen wading along in the 
lake, pushing their boats as they loaded them with fish, or gathered the 
" flies' eggs" from the tall weeds and flags, that are planted in long rows 
as nests for the insects. These eggs (called agayacatl) were a favorite 
food of the Indians long before the conquest, and, when baked in pat^s, are 
not unlike the roe of fishes, both in flavor and appearance. Miev frogs 
in France, and " lird nests^' in China, I think they may be esteemed quite 
a delicacy, and I find that they are not despised even at fashionable tables 
in the Capital. 

Father Gage, at page 111 of his Travels, says that "at one season of 
the year, the Indians had nets of mail, with the which they raked oflTa 
certain dust that is bred on the water of the lake of Mexico, and is kneaded 
together like unto oas of the sea. They gathered much of this and kept 
it in heaps, and made thereof cakes like unto brick-bats. And they did 
not only sell this ware in the market, but also sent it abroad to other fairs 
and markets afar off; and they did eat this meal, with as good a stomach 
as we eat cheese ; yea, and they hold the opinion, that this scum of fatness 
of the water is the cause that such great number of fowl cometh to the 
lake, which in the winter season is infinite." 

This was written early in the seventeenth century, and " infinite'^ still 
continues to be the number of wild fowl with which these lakes and the 
neighboring marshes are covered during the winter. I have elsewhere 
said, that the plains and the waters seem actually j^ejjperei with them. 

There can of course be but little skill in sporting among such clouds 
of birds, and the consequence is that they are slain for the market, by per- 
sons who rent the best situated shooting-grounds from the proprietors of the 

* According to Humboldt, (Pol. Essay, vol. ii. p. 188.) There are two sources of mineral waters in the Valley 
of Mexico; one at Guadalupe, the other at the Pcfion. Those waters contain carbonic acid, sulphate of lime 
and of soda, and muriate of soda. The temperature of the waters at the Penon is quite high. 

At this place the Indians, also, make salt. 

" Of the five lakes of the Valley of Mexico, the lake of Tezcoco is most impregnated with muriate and carbon- 
ate of soda. The nitrate of barytes proves that this water contains no sulphate in solution. The purest and most 
limpid water is that of the lake of Xochirailco, the specific weight of which Ifound to be 1.2009, when that of 
water distilled at the temperature of 54= Fahr. was 1.090, and water from the lakeof Tezcoco was 1.0215. The 
waterof this last mentioned lake is consequently heavier than that of the Baltic sea, and notso heavy as that of 
the ocean, which, under different latitudes, has been found between 1.0269 and 1.0285. The quantity of sulphur- 
ated hydrogen which is detached from the surface of the Mexican lakes, and which the acetate of lead indicates 
in great abundance in the lakes of Tezcoco and Chalco, undoubtedly contributes in certain seasons to the un- 
healthiness of theairin the valley. However, the fact is curious, tliat intermittent fevers are very rare on th a 
banks of these lakes, the snrfnr* of which is partly hidden by rushes and aquatic herbs.— Fide Humboldt— «t 
Mod. Traveller, vol. VI. p. 251. 



THUNDER STORM. 219 

lake margins. The gunners erect a sort of infernal machine, with three 
tiers of barrels — one, level with the marsh or water, another slightly ele- 
vated, and the third at a still greater angle. The lower tier is discharged 
at the birds while they are sitting, and this of course destroys a multitude ; 
but as some must necessarily escape the first discharge, the second and 
third tiers are fired in quick succession, and it is rare indeed that a duck 
avoids the wholesale slaughter. From 125,000 to 200,000 annually load 
the markets of Mexico, and form the cheapest food of the multitude ; but 
it is rare that you can procure one delicate enough to bring to your table. 



It was near four o'clock, when, under the slow impulse of our polers, 
we approached the eastern border of the lake. The shores were dotted 
with white-walled haciendas and lines of beautiful groves, while at the 
distance of a few miles, in the interior, rose the lofty sierra, in the midst 
of which, the mountain of Tlaloc, '• the god of Storms," was brewing a 
neavy thunder-storm. The clouds were thickly gathered around the top 
of the mountain, and as we disembarked on the v\'aste-like quay, among 
sands and marshes, the first premonitory drops began to patter on our hats. 
Here we had expected to find a carriage, or at least horses, waiting to 
convey us the remaining league to the town of Tezcoco. But as we did 
not ai-rive by the early boats of the morning, our friends had returned 
home, presuming that we had relinquished our proposed expedition. 

While our baggage was landing from the boat, the rain increased rap- 
idly. There was no place for shelter, except an open shed occupied by 
the boatmen during the day. Thunder and lightning were soon added to 
the storm ; and yet, in the midst of these accumulated discomforts, we took 
up our line of march, as the prospect of remaining was worse than the 
danger of a drenching. None of the Indians could be bought or bribed to 
leave their boats and carry our luggage, nor were there any idlers about, 
willing to earn an honest penny as porters. I therefore put on my serape, 
and the oil-skin cover of my hat ; and fastening my valise by a handker- 
chief on my back, balanced it (aguador fashion, in front,) by my gun and 
sword, — and thus set forth for a dreary tramp over the lonely waste. 

As we advanced, the rain and tempest of wind, thunder and lightning, 
increased, and I have no recolleciion, in the course of my travels, of a 
more disagreeable pilgrimage than the one we made to Tezcoco. Our 
anxiety was greatly increased by the loss of one of our party in the dark- 
ness among some morasses, and by the rise of a considerable stream that 
crossed the road near the town. We however waded the brook, and, 
about eight o'clock, arrived at the hospitable dwelling of an American, 
who, after wandering about the world in various capacities, has settled 
down in the city of Tezcoco, where (from his connection with an exten- 
sive menagerie, that once astonished the Mexicans with its lions and 
monkeys,) he passes by the significant cognomen of " El de lasjieras." 



220 MEXICO. 

A kindlier heart, however, exists not on earth ; and to him and to his Mexi- 
can wife, I am indebted for many a pleasant hour, beguiled by the exqui- 
site music of the one, and the story of wild adventure of the other. 



TEZCOCO. 



8th October. We rose early. Every symptom of yesterday's storm 
was swept from the sky — a clear and beautiful day, mild as our June. 

After breakfast we sallied forth to make arrangements for our journey 
to Teotihuacan, but found that the person who was to furnish us with 
horses had gone on a bull-catching expedition to a neighboring hacienda. 
Finding it, therefore, impossible to make any excursions to the neighbor- 
hood to-day, we amused ourselves by strolling over the town' and seeing 
all that is interesting in the way of antiquarian research. 

At the period of the conquest, Tezcoco was the second city of the 
JVTexican Empire ; and what it must have been in splendor and vas^ess, 
may be judged from the account I have heretofore given of the Capital 
itself. Situated, then, on the borders of the lake, (the spot from which 
Cortez launched his brigantines when he invested Mexico by water.) it 
perhaps resembled Pisa both in power and importance ; but every trace 
of its former magnificence has disappeared, and it has dwindled to 
scarcely more than a respectable village, where a few herdsmen, fisher- 
men, and farmers have gathered together for mutual protection and traffic. 
The large Plaza is silent and deserted — the people loll about their shops 
and houses as on a holyday — a universal quietude rests over the whole 
town — and a general listlessness seems to prevail both in regard to the 
present and the future.* 

I was particularly struck with one bad feature in the character of the 
Tezcocans — a disregard for their dead. In passing through the western 
portion of the town we came to the parish church, which was being re- 
paired. On entering the square in front of it, I stumbled against a 
human skull ; a little farther on, I found the niches in the walls filled 
with them ; — the floor of the edifice was taken up, and the dead-pits had 
been cleaned and scraped, yet the remains of the human frame were still 
plenteously scattered over the bottom, and the stench was intolerable. 
The whole surface of the yard was strewn with ribs and thigh bones — 
lower jaws — teeth — and fragments of skulls, and a huge pile of I'icli, 
Mack mould, mottled with human hones, was thrown in a corner — the contents 
of the pits within. 

* When Cortez entered the city of Tezcoco, on the last day of the year 1520, the nobles ciime out tii 
meet him, and conducted him to one of the Palaces of the late King Nezahualcojotl, which was large enough, 
according to the Conqueror, " to contain not only the six hundred Spaniards who were lodged in it, but as 
'iianv 7no7'f."— Clavigero, Book x., vol. 2, p. 139. 




ANCIENT BAS RELIEF. 



PYRAMIDS OF TEZCOCO. 221. 



PYRAMIDS. 

In the northwestern corner of Tezcoco is a pile of earth, bricks, mor- 
tar and pottery, entirely shapeless, and covered with a field of aloes; on 
the top of this I found several very large slabs of basalt, squared with 
the chisel and laid due north and south. Tradition says, that these are 
the remains of the Palace of Montezujma. 

On this spot, some years ago, the small fragment represented in the op- 
posite drawing was found, and immediately transferred to the collection 
of the Conde del Peiiasco, in Mexico, where it is now preserved. 

It appears to be the remains of a trough or basin, and the sculpture is 
neatly executed in relief. I imagine that it was designed to represent a 
conflict between a serpent and bird, and you cannot fail to remark the 
cross distinctly carved near the lower right-hand corner of the vessel. 

At the southern end of the town, there are still distinctly traceable 
three immense pyramids, the forms of which are not so much obliterated 
as might be supposed after the lapse of centuries. They lie in a line 
with each other from north to south — are about four hundred feet in ex- 
tent on each side of their bases, and are built partly of adohes and partly 
of large hurned' bricks and fragments of pottery. In many places I dis- 
covered remains of a thick covering of cement, thi'ough which small ca- 
nals or gutters had been formed to carry off the water, or, perhaps, the 
blood, from the upper terrace. The sides of these pyramids were strewn 
with fragments of idols, clay vessels, and obsidian knives. It is related 
by Bernal Diaz del Castillio, that the great temple of Tezcoco was as- 
cended by one hundred and seventeen steps ; and it is probable that one 
of these pyramids was the base of the Teocalli to which the historian 
alludes. 

These were all the antiquities I could find in the town of Tezcoco, 
except the spot where tradition says that Cortez launched his vessels. 
It still passes by the name of " Puente de los Bergantines," and is now 
probably rather more than a mile in a direct line from the lake. 

While I was in Mexico a most interesting piece of antiquity was sent 
from Tezcoco to General Tornel, and presented by him to Mr. Morphy, 
an opulent English merchant, who has since returned to England. It 
was a group, modelled in clay, about a foot and a half high, representing 
a sacrifice, and consisted of two figures — the priest and the victim. 
The latter (a female) had been thrown over a tall and narrow stone; the 
priest had just made a deep incision in her back — torn out her heart — 
and was in the act of ofiering it to the idol. The expressions of death and 
agony in the countenance of the woman — and of pride and enthusiasm 
in the priest, were admirably rendered. I intended making a drawing of 
this group, but Mr. Morphy sent it to the coast for shipment immedi- 



,222 MEXICO. 

ately after its reception, and I scarcely regret the occurrence now, as one 
of the best antiquarians of Mexico cast considerable doubt on its genuine- 
ness. It is the fashion here, as in Italy, to manufacture antiquities by 
the gross, and it requires a keen eye to detect the imposture. 

As we left the Pyramids of Tezcoco, after our morning's examina- 
tion, we were beset by several of the burghers who professed to sell 
large collections of interesting fragments and statues. Among these 
worthies was an old Indian who lived directly opposite the largest of the 
pyramids, and spent his leisure hours in groping among the ruins. We 
accompanied them, one after the other, to their houses, but found scarcely 
anything worthy of purchase except a few small idols of serpentine, and 
some personal ornaments cut from an exceedingly hard and brittle stone. 
As to the Indian — his idols were the dolls of all his progeny, and had 
been pounded about the yard of his mud hovel for so many years, that 
their features were entirely obliterated. 



In the evening, the person who was to be our guide in the neighbor- 
hood, came into town and immediately visited us. I found him to be an 
honest; open-hearted, rollicking fellow ; who passed his time in catching 
cattle — looking after a small milpa, or corn-field — and hunting in the 
neighboring mountains. His hands and face were scarred by his numer- 
ous encounters with the beasts ; yet before he left us he made one of the 
girls of the family tune her guitar, and leading out another, danced a 
fandango, while he chanted a song in a patois that I could not under- 
stand, but which seemed highly amusing from the merriment of the 
company. 

9th October. — Sunday. A night passed in Jieadom ! We were, con- 
sequently, abroad early — and the day was beautiful. At half-past nine 
we were in our saddles, and on our way to the 



PYRAMIDS OF ST. JUAN TEOTIHUACAN. 



On leaving the town our road lay in a northeasterly direction, through 
a number of picturesque villages buried in foliage, and fenced with the 
organ cactus, lifting its tall pillar-like stems to a height of twenty feet 
above the ground. The country was rolling, and we passed over several 
elevations and a stream or two before we turned suddenly to the right, 
and saw the village of St. Juan with an extensive level beyond it, bor- 
dered on all sides by mountains, except toward the east, where a deep 
depression in the chain leads into the plains of Otumba. In the centre 
of this level are the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, and the opposite engra- 



PYRAMIDS OF TEOTIHUACAN. - 223 

ving will give you an accurate idea of their position and present appear- 
ance from this point. 

After we passed through the village, the high-road was soon lost among 
paths leading between the walled fields of Indian farmers. At short dis- 
tances, as we advanced in the direction of the pyramids, I observed evi- 
dent traces of a well made ancient road, covered with several inches of 
a close and hard cement, which, in turn, was often overlaid with a foot or 
two of soil. We crossed the plain, and, in a quarter of an hour, stood 
at the foot of the Tonatiuh Ytzagual, or, " House of the Sun," the base 
line of which is six hundred and eighty-two feet, and the perpendicular 
height, two hundred and twenty-one.* 

There is no other description of these monuments to be given than by 
saying that they are pyramids, three stories or stages of which are yet dis- 
tinctly visible. The whole of their exteriors is covered with a thick 
growth of nopals or prickly pears ; and, in many places, I discovered 
the remains of the coating of cement with which they were incrusted in 
the days of their perfection. A short distance, northwestwardly, from 
the " House of the Sun," is the Metzli Yl.zagual, or" House of the Moon," 
with a height of one hundred and forty-four feet. On the level summits 
of both of these, there were erected, no doubt, the shrines of the gods 
and the places of sacrifice. 

I ascended, clambering among the bushes and loose stones with uncer- 
tain footing, to the top of the "House of the Sun." The view from it was 
exceedingly picturesque over the cultivated fields to the east and south. 
Immediately to the south were a number of mound-like clusters, run- 
ning toward a number of elevations arranged in a square, beyond the 
streamlet of Teotihuacan, and bordering the road that leads to Otumba. 
On the western front there were also five or six tumuli extending toward 
a long line of similar mounds, running from the southern side of the 
" House of the Moon." These lines were quite distinct, and the whole 
plain was more or less covered with heaps of stones. It is extremely 
probable, that at one time they all formed the sepulchres of the distin- 
guished men of the Empire, and constituted the Micoatl or " Path of the 
Dead" — a name which they bore in the ancient language of the country. 
It was perhaps the Westminster Abbey of the Toltecs and Aztecs. 

You will, however, obtain a much better idea of the arrangement of 
thes© pyramids and smaller tumuli by reference to the opposite plan, 
made some years since by a scientific friend of mine, and compared by 
me with the remaining ruins on the spot, in 1842. 

An examinatipn of the "House of the Moon," or lesser pyramid, af- 
fords no more information to the inquirer than the " House of the Sun." 
Like its neighbor, it is a mass of stones, jocks and cement ; but, within a 
few years past, an entrance has been discovered between the second and 
third terraces, leading through a narrow passage, that may be traversed 
on hands and knees on an inclined plane for about twenty-five feet, to 

♦Glninie. 



224 



MEXICO. 



two walled chambers, or sinks, like wells ; — one of which has a depth of 
about fifteen feet, and the other rather less. The walls of the entrance 
and of the sinks are of the common adobe, and there are no remains 
either of sculpture, painting, or human bodies, to reward the groper 
through the dark and dusty adit. I could perceive no sign of an entrance 
in the "House of the Sun." 

It is useless to inquire into the antiquity of these pyramids. There is 
no authentic tradition of their builders, although they are usually referred 
to the Toltecs. Clavigero* is very brief in his remarks in regard to 
them, but says that in the temples dedicated to the Sun and Moon, there 
were two idols of huge bulk carved of stone and covered with gold. The 
breast of the idol of the Sun was grooved out, and a massive image of the 
planet, in solid gold, was fixed in the hollow. Of this the conquerors 
immediately possessed themselves, while the idol was destroyed by order 
of the Bishop of Mexico, and the fragments remained in the neighborhood 
until the end of the seventeenth century. A huge globular mass of gra- 
nite at the spot indicated on the plan by the letter B — measuring nineteen 
feet and eight inches in circumference — may probably be either part of its 
ruins, or the sacrificial stone upon whose convex surface thousands have 
been offered to the gods. 

A short distance west of this ball, at the place marked with the letter 
C, in the middle of the small semicircular elevation of ground and stones, 
(on the top of which are three tumuli with five more on its eastern base,^ 
is the curious stone of which the following is an exact design. 




* Vol. i. p. 268 and 286 



INDIAN TRADITION. 225 

It lies due east and west, and is ten feet six inches in length by five 
feet in breadth. The material is granite, and though the sculpture on the 
northern and upper sides is very faint, yet, on the side facing the south, 
it is quite as distinct as represented in the drawing. The dark shade B 
is a hollow, three inches deep at the sides, and six at the top and bottom. 
In looking at this stone one might imagine that it had been a pillar, thrown 
down accidentally on its side ; but the exact east and west position — 
precisely in the centre of the group of tumuli — would seem to forbid such 
an idea. It is said, that all who sit or recline on this singular fragment 
are immediately seized with a fainting fit ; and, although we had heard 
of this remarkable property of the relic, we forgot to test the truth of it. 

Clavigero tells us, that in the principal temple of Teotihuacan there 
dwelt constantly four priests, who were remarkable for the virtue and 
austerity of their lives. Their dress was of the most ordinary stuffs, and 
their food was confined to a loaf of maize, weighing two ounces, and a 
cup of atolU or gruel of the same grain. 

Every night two of these devotees kept watch — offering incense, sing- 
ing hymns to the gods, and shedding their blood on the stones of the tem- 
pie. Their fastings and vigils continued for four years, except during a 
monthly festival, when they were permitted to indulge in as much food as 
they desired ; but, while preparing for this enjoyment, they were oblige(^ 
to undergo additional mortifications. At the end^of four years tney re- 
tired from the temple, and an equal number supplied their places, to go 
through the same rites and sufferings — and, in honor thereof, to receive 
the same homage and respect both from the people and their sovereign. 

But high as was the recompense of their virtues, the punishment of 
vice, or of a violation of chastity, was proportionably severe. If the crime 
was proved after strict investigation, the culprit was beaten to death— his 
body burned — and his ashes scattered to the winds. 



TRADITION. 

There is a singular tradition in regard to the reappearance of the Sun 
and Moon after the regeneration and multiplication of the human race, 
which I will here recount to you. 

Omecihuatl — the wife of the god Ometeuctli — after having borne many 
children in heaven, happened once to bring forth a knife of flint, which 
her enraged offspring flung to earth — when lo ! from its fragments, sprang 
sixteen hundred heroes! Immediately they petitioned their mother to 
grant them power to create men for their servants. But she disdained to 
aid her children, and sent them to the god of Hell, who, she declared, 
would furnish them with a bone of me of the men who had perished in the 
general destruction of the races. This fragment she ordered them to 
15 



226 MEXICO. 

sprinkle with their blond, and a human pair should spring from it to re- 
generate the species. 

Xolotl, one of the heroes, departed on the dangerous errand, and 
having obtained the gift from the infernal deity, hastened off precipitately 
in fear that he might repent the present. So rapidly did he return to 
earth, that in his speed he accidentally fell and Iroke the lone! Never- 
theless, he returned to his brothers with the fragments, and, placing them 
in a vessel, sprinkled the precious relics with blood drawn from their 
bodies. On the fourth day there appeared a boy ; and, after a lapse of 
three days more — during which the bloody sprinklings were continued — 
a girl was formed. They were reared by their guardian Xolotl with the 
milk of thistles — and thus commenced the regeneration of the world! 

But there was no Sun nor Moon ! The luminaries that existed in for- 
mer days had been extinguished in the general ruin. 

The heroic brothers, therefore, assembled on the plain of Teotihuacan. 
They built a huge pile, and, kindling it, declared that the first who threw 
himself into the flames should have the glory to be transformed into a 
Sun. Nanahuatzin, the boldest of the multitude, immediately leaped into 
the blaze and descended to hell. After a short period, the Sun rose in 
the east ! 

But scarcely had he appeared above the horizon when he stopped in 
his course. They sent a message to the Orb desiring him to continue his 
travels, but he politely declined doing so until he should see them all put 
to death! 

This, as may well be imagined, was anything but agreeable to the 
band of sixteen hundred, and not a few undertook to manifest their dis- 
pleasure very openly. One seized his bow and shot an arrow, which the 
Sun safely avoided by dodging! Another made an equally passionate 
and fruhless demonstration ; and, so on with several, until the luminary, 
tired of the sport, and somewhat annoyed, flung back one of the arrows, 
and fixed it in the forehead of the first hero who had rashly aimed at his 
blazing disc. 

The heroic brothers, intimidated by the fate of their companion, and 
unable to cope with the Orb, resolved to yield to his behests ^nd to die by 
the hands of the daring Xolotl ; who, after slaying all his relatives, com- 
mitted suicide. Before the heroes perished, they bequeathed their clothes 
to their servants ; and, even at the period of the conquest, many ^'■ancient 
garments^'' were preserved by the Mexicans with singular veneration, un- 
der the belief that they were the dying gifts of the valiant heroes, who 
had restored the lost Sun for the comfort of their race. 

A similar fable is told of the origin of the Moon. Before the final sac- 
rifice of the 1600, another person of the same assemblage followed the 
example of his brother Nanahuatzin, and threw himself into the flames. 
But the strength of the fire had declined, and as the voluntary victim 
burned with a paler flame, he was glorified only by the humbler dignity 
of a Moonship ! i 



VIATICUM AND FUNERAL RITES. 227 

On the plain which had been the scene of this wonderful incantation and 
miraculous result, the descendants of the race consecrated two temples to the 
Sun and Moon, and the pyramids I have just described were, doubtless, the 
bases of their shrines and altars.^ 



It was late when we turned our horses' heads homeward, from the pyr- 
amids. At the base of that of the Moon, I met several old Indians who 
brought me a number of obsidian sacrificial knives, and small heads of a 
finely tempered clay, of which the opposite figures are specimens. They 
have evidently never been attached to bodies, and their purposes are en- 
tirely unknown by the Mexican antiquarians, although they have hitherto 
been discovered in great quantities at the foot of these Teocallis. 

As we were just departing, an old woman lugged from beneath her 
petticoat a singular box of mottled marble, divided into four compart- 
ments, and covered on its exterior with very elaborate carving. The fig- 
ures appeared to be those of Spaniards, and, in one place, there was a 
symbol resembling the cross. She said it had been dug up in an old 
field by her husband, when planting his last year's crop. Having pur- 
chased it for a dollar, it was forthwith deposited in the folds of a serape 
on my pillion, with the sonorous title of " Montezuma's inkstand f" 

We rode merrily home, and reached Tezcoco by a brilliant moonlight, 
meeting troops of Indians returning from their Sunday's frolic in the town. 
As we passed through the numerous corn-fields with which the road-side 
is bordered, we heard the loud crack of the milperos'' whip, as, seated 
on his high perch in the midst of the acres, he waved it, during the whole 
night, in ierrorem, over the flocks of robber black-birds that infest the 
neighborhood as the grain is ripening. 



VIATICUM AND FUNERAL RITES. 

10^^ October. — Monday. An idle day, as Tio Ignacio, (as he is famil- 
iarly called,) was unable to accompany us to Tezcosingo. 

Last night a young woman died in the house next to us, and her body 
is exposed to-day on a bier, surrounded with flowers and candles, in the 
entrance of the dwelling, so that it may be seen by every passer. 

Approaching death, and the funeral services, are matters of considera- 
ble pomp in Mexico with almost all classes — and, especially, with the 
rich. 

• Vide McCuIloh. 329, 230, 231. 



228 MEXICO. 

In April last, Madame Santa Anna, the wife of the President, was dan- 
gerously ill, and on the 19th of the month her life was in imminent 
peril. Early in the morning it was rumored that she was to receive the 
last sacrament, and, in all probability, would not survive the service. 
About noon, notes of invitation were sent from the Foreign Office to all 
the members of the Diplomatic Corps, requesting their presence at the 
ceremony of the Viaticum ; and at seven o'clock we repaired, in uniform, 
to the Palace, where we were provided with massive wax torches, and 
ranged round the walls of the audience-chamber with the invited citizens, 
strangers, and friends of the suffering lady. 

It was already quite dark. Presently the large bell of the Cathedral 
began to toll mournfully ; and, being near a window overlooking the 
great square, I could perceive a solemn procession, with torches, issue 
from the door of the sacred edifice, preceded by a military band perform- 
ing appropriate music. Slowly it advanced to the Palace gates — the 
jewelled robes of the Archbishop and attendant priests, flashing in the 
blaze of a thousand lights, as they approached the portals. They 
mounted the steps ; entered the apartment ; and, as the prelate passed 
through, chanting a hymn, the crowd knelt to the sacred elements. 
The Cabinet Ministers and Chiefs of the army then accompanied the 
priests into the chamber of the lady, where the required functions were 
performed. Returning again, through our saloon, they issued into the 
square, and, after making a tour around it, entered the Cathedral. The 
effect of this procession — with its torches blazing in the night like so 
many diamonds — its solemn military music, and ks melancholy hymn — 
was solemn and picturesque. 

There was a similar display (though not with so much magnificence,) 
at the death of General Moran, ex-Marquis of Vivanco. His dwelling 
was directly opposite my hotel, and I saw the whole of the preparations 
for his funeral from the windows. 

Plaving been a patriotic soldier in his day, the Government undertook 
the arrangement of the last rites in his honor, and he was escorted by the 
flower of the troops. 

His body was embalmed by the process of Ganal. It was laid on an 
open bier, dressed in the full uniform of a Major-general, with boots, 
spurs, plumed hat, sword, and even the cane by his side, as is usual with 
Spanish officers. So perfectly had the operation been performed on the 
body, that it presented in these equipments, a horrid and unnatural mock- 
ery of sleep ; nor shall I ever forget the stony gaze of the glass eyes, as 
the dead body of the General issued from his gate-way. 

To the sound of solemn music the procession moved along the streets 
of Espiritu Santo and San Francisco, toward the great church near the 
Alameda. The bier was placed on a lofty catafalque before the altar, 
hung with black velvet'and lighted with tapers. A solemn service was 
performed with every aid of ecclesiastical splendor — and a multitude of 



A RUSE DE GUEliRE 



229 



Driests, in the different chapels, immediately commenced their masses for 
the repose of the hero's soul. At dark, his body was left with watchers 
around the pile on which it reposed, and, in a few days, it was deposited 
m an oaken sarcophagus and carried to a favorite hacienda for interment, 

TEZCOSINGO. 

IWi October. Another fine day. After breakfast we started on our 
promised expedition to the hill of Tezcosingo — which rises in a tall cone 
at the end of the eastern plain, jutting out for a mile or two from the wall 
of mountains. 

Tio Ignacio accompanied us on this occasion, and proved an excellent 
guide over the country; By his free, bold, dashing manners, and con- 
summate courage, he has managed to obtain a remarkable control over all 
the neighboring Indians, and appears to be a person likely to make him- 
self obeyed. He took an active part in the Revolution, and, as we rode 
from the town, pointed out to me the spot where, during a sudden night- 
attack of a guerilla party, he had been chased by a band of troopers from 
whom he was alone saved by the swiftness of his horse. It seems, however, 
that one of the cavalry, more daring than the rest, continued the pursuit 
after his companions had retreated ; — but he paid dearly for his rashness 
in the end. 

When Ignacio had cleared the streets and the suburbs of Tezcoco, he 
suddenlv turned on his follower, and striking off at right-angles, dexter. 
ously threw his lasso over the trooper. In a moment he had dismounted 
his pursuer ; — and putting his animal into full gallop, dragged the wretch 
for more than a mile over the plain, and cast his mangled body into a 
barranca \ 




THRO'WING THF LASSO. 



230 MEXICO. 



As we trotted over the league of level ground that intervened between 
the town and hill, this story of the " tio"* brought out some of the revo- 
lutionary recollections of one of our party. I will record a couple of 
these illustrating the jugglery of the chiefs, and the controlling supersti- 
tious power of the priesthood over the mass of insurgent Indians. 

It is related that Hidalgo, the celebrated priestly leader of the Revo- ' 
lutionary movement, was accustomed to travel from village to village 
preaching a crusade against the Spaniards, and exciting the Creoles and 
Indians ; and one of his most effective tricks is said to have been the fol- 
lowing. Although he had thrown off the cassock for the military coat, 
he wore a figure of the Virgin Mary suspended by a chain around his 
neck. After haranguing the mob on such occasions, he would suddenly 
break off, and looking down at his breast, address himself to the holy 
image, after the following fashion : — " Mary ! Mother of God ! Holy Vir- 
gin ! Patron of Mexico ! behold our country, — behold our wrongs, — be- 
hold our sufferings ! Dost thou not wish they should be changed ? that 
we should be delivered from our tyrants ? that we should be free ? that 
we should slay the Guachupines? that we should kill the Spaniards?" 

The image had a moveable head fastened to a spring, which he jerked 
by a cord concealed beneath his coat, and, of course, the Virgin responded 
with a nod ! The effect was immense — and the air was filled with In- 
dian shouts of obedience to the present miracle. , 



During the heat of the insurrection, it was deemed necessary, upon a 
certain occasion, to execute a priest ; and the officer in command of the 
party ordered a common soldier to lead the padre to a neighboring ditch, 
and dispatch him with a bullet. 

The soldier peremptorily refused, declaring that it was unlawful for 
him to kill a "servant of God." The officer threatened him with instant 
death if he persisted in his refusal ; but the soldier continued firm. The 
Captain then turned to the priest, ordered him to ^'■receive the confession of 
the soldier on the spot," and then sent both to the ditch, where they were 
murdered together ! 

He who writes the secret history of the Mexican Revolt, will have to 
record a story of blood, crime and superstition, unequalled in the annals 
of the world. 



* " Tio," or uncle, is a familar mode of addressing intimates in tlie country. 



EXCURSION TO TEZCOSINGO. 231 

At the village of Huejutla there are some interesting remains of the 
ancient Indians. A large ruined wall, about twenty-five feet m height 
and five or six in thickness, is pointed out as part of a palace, and ter- 
minates, to the eastward, on the steeps of a barranca. This barranca is 
crossed by an ancient arched bridge, which we neglected visiting. TJie 
most interesting, and certainly the most picturesque, antique in the vicin- 
ity, is a noble row of seventeen olive trees, in an inclosure near the 
church, alleged to have been planted by the conquerors. 

We stopped at the house of an Alcalde in the village of Natividad, to 
procure an Indian guide, who had promised his services to aid Ignacio in 
discovering certain fossil remains that lay on the edges of the mountams 
to the eastward ; but, after waiting a considerable length of time, neither 
Ignacio nor the Indian appeared, and we determined to proceed alone to- 
ward Tezcosingo, under the escort of L , who professed to be well 

acquainted with the hill and its antiquities. 

The conical mountain rose out of the plain directly north of us ; but in 
order to reach its base, we were obliged to descend a ravine three or four 
hundred feet in depth, and to ascend afterward along cliffs and herbage 
like those that opposed us on our journey to Xochicalco. At length we 
gained the foot of the mountain, and commenced a zig-zag ascent to the 
eastward among nopals and rocks that seemed almost impassable. 

We managed, nevertheless, to reach the summit of the ridges after an 
hour's labor, and beheld Ignacio in the distance, scouring the plain at a 
gallop. A shout from our party soon arrested his attention, and wheeling 
his horse, he was quickly at our side at full dash over cliff" and ravine. 
I felt mortified at having lost confidence in him at the village, as we found, 
on explanation, that he had been most anxiously engaged in endeavoring 
to persuade the Indian to guide us. The savage, however, steadily per- 
sisted for a long time in refusing to accompany him ; believing that if he 
pointed out the fosil remains, we would certainly carry off" some of them, 
" to which he would never consent, as they were the hones of certain 
giants who had ieen the ancestors of his race !" 

I know not by what witchcraft Ignacio managed finally to prevail with 
the Indian ; but he pointed him out, waiting for us at the foot of a group 
of palmettos on an opposite hill. Thither we quickly ascended; yet, 
scarcely had we reached the trees, when the rain commenced pattering 
down fi'om the eastward, where it had been brewing as usual for the last 
hour around the brow of old Tlaloc. 

The day was already far advanced and we had as yet seen nothing of 
remarkable interest. At the distance of a couple of leagues to the east- 
ward, was the edge of the barranca containing the bones ; while, a league 
to the west, was the unexplored hill of Tezcosingo. To see both of these 
spots on that evening was impossible, and yielding, therefore, to the earn- 
est solicitation of the Indian, who pointed out to us the resting-place of 
the " huesos de sus antepasados'^ in the clayey soil of the eastern barran- 



232 MEXICO. 

cas, we gathered together under the shelter of the trees, and partook of 
a dinner of dried kid, peppers and pulque, preparatory to our visit to 
Tezcosingo.* 

Directly at the foot of the eminence on which we rested, there was an 
extensive Indian remain. By an able system of engineering, the water 
had been brought by the ancients from the eastern sierra, for a distance, 
probably, of three leagues, by conduits across barrancas and along the 
sides of the hill ; and the ruin below us was that of one of these aque- 
ducts, across a ravine about a hundred feet in elevation. 

You will find a view of this work in the opposite picture. The base of 
the two conduit pipes is raised to the required level on stones and masonryy 
and the canals for the water are made of an exceedingly hard cement, 
of mortar and fragments of pounded brick. Although, of course, long 
since abandoned, it is, in many places, as perfect as on the day of its com- 
pletion ; and perhaps as good a work, for all the necessary purposes, as 
could be' formed at the present day by the most expert engineers. 

The view over the valley, to the north, toward the Pyramids of Teoti- 
huacan, and across the lake to Mexico, was uninterrupted ', and the city 
(beyond the waters, surrounded by a mirage on the distant plain,) seemed 
placed again, as it was three hundred years ago, in the midst of a beauti- 
ful lake. 

After we had finished our meal, we gave a small compensation to the 
conscientious Indian, (who seemed delighted to escape from the medita- 
ted sacrilege,) and resumed our route toward Tezcosingo. The road, 
for a long distance, lay over an extensive table-land, with a deep valley 
north and south, filled on both sides with haciendas, villages, and planta- 
tions. We crossed the shoulder of a mountain, and descended half way 
a second ravine, near the eighth of a mile in extent, until we struck the 
level of another ancient aqueduct that led the waters directly to the hill 
of Tezcosingo. This elevation was broader, firmer, and even in better 
preservation, than the first. It may be crossed on horseback — three 
abreast. 

As soon as we struck the celebrated hill we began ascending rapidly, 
by an almost imperceptible cattle-path, among gigantic cacti, whose thorns 
tore our sidns as we brushed by them. Over the whole surface, there 
were remains of a spiral road cut from the living rock — strewn with frag- 

* After my return to Mexico, tio Ignacio pei-sisted in obtaining some of these "ancestral io7ics" from the bar- 
rancas, and, although, tlie liagfull lie sent was nearly ground to powder before it reached me, there were still 
some considerable fragments which I desired to submit to our naturalists for their opinion. They ha^ e not yet, 
however, arrived in the United States from Vera Cruz. 

Latrobe, at page 144, of his Rambles in Mexico, relates that some workmen in excavating for a canal at Cha- 
pingo, (a hacienda near Tezcoco,) reached, at the distance of four feet below the surtiice, " an ancient cause- 
way, of the existence of which there had not been tlie remotest suspicion. The cedar piles by which the sides 
were supported were still sound at heart ; and three feet below the edge of this ancient work they struck upon the 
entire skeleton of a Mastodon imbedded in blue clay. The diameter of the tusk was eighteen inches. Wherever 
extensive excavations have been made on the table-land and in the valley, of late yeare, remains of this animal 
have almost always been met with. In the foundation of the Cliurch of Guadalupe— on the estate of St. Wich- 
olas, four leagues to the south, and in Guadalaxara, portions of the skeleton have been discovered." Had the 
aacients some means of taming these beasts into laborers for their gigantic architecture 1 




1 



I 

Hi 



iililif '"J 



tf ''i^i 



\ mk. 



Ili/' 1 



llll i!i i 



SUMMIT OF TEZCOSINGO. 233 

merits of pottery, Indian arrows, and broken sacrificial knives ; while, 
occasionally, we passed over the ruins of an aqueduct winding round the 
hill. The eminence seems to have been converted, from its base to its 
summit, (a distance of perhaps five hundred feet,) into a pile of those 
terraced gardens, so much admired by every tourist who falls into rap- 
tures among the romantic groves of Isola Bella. 

Our horses seemed to be better accustomed to the dangerous clamber- 
ing among these steeps, than ourselves, and we therefore continued in 
our saddles until we reached a point about fifty feet below the summit, 
where, in a due northerly direction, the rock had been cut into seats along 
a recess leading to a perpendicular wall, which is said to have been cov- 
ered, until recently, with a Toltec Calendar. When the Indians found 
that a place, otherwise so unattractive, was visited by foreigners, they 
immediately imagined their ancestors had concealed treasures behind the 
stone ; as they supposed that gold, and not mere curiosity could have lured 
strangers from a distance to so unsightly a spot. They consequently de- 
stroyed the carved rock in order to penetrate the hill, and there is now not 
a fragment of the ancient sculptui'e I'emaining. In the hole, burrowed 
by the treasure-finders, avo discovered a number of Indians, of both sexes, 
sheltering themselves from the rain ; and as they had a supply of nopals, 
(with which the surrounding rocks are covered,) we were not loth to dis- 
mount, and, forgetting our indignation for the moment — crawled into their 
cavern to enjoy the luscious fruit. 

A ?ew steps upward led us to the summit of Tezcosingo. I found there 
no remains of a temple or edifice ; but as the hill is supposed to have been 
formerly dedicated to the bloody rites of Indian worship, modern piety has 
thought proper to purify the spot by the erection of a cross. And never 
was one built on a more majestic and commanding site. From its foot, 
the entire valley, lake, Tezcoco, Mexico, and lakes far to the north, were 
distinctly visible, and the beauty of the panorama was greatly increased 
by the sudden clearing of the skies, and an outburst of the setting sun. 

Bidding our Indians farewell in their burrow, we descended over massive 
fragments of architecture, to a spot where a path terminates abruptly in a 
bastion-like wall, plunging precipitously down the side of the mountain 
for two hundred feet. Here we found what is called the " Bath of 

MONTEZITMA." 



234 



MEXICO. 




BATH OF MONTEZUMA. 



It will be observed in the drawing, that the rock is smoothed to a perfect 
level for several yards, around which, seats and grooves are carved 
from the adjacent masses. In the centre there is a circular sink, about 
a yard and a half in diameter, and a yard in depth, and a square pipe, 
with a small aperture, led the water from an aqueduct, which appears to 
terminate in this basin. None of the. stones have heen joined with cement, 
but the whole was chiselled from the mountain rock. 

The origin and purpose of this work are entirely unknown. The view 
from it is secluded and picturesque, over a small glimpse of plain seen 
through a frame-work of narrow and shadowy valley ; — but, (as Latrobe 
says,) " As to being Montezuma's Bath — it might have been his/oo<-bath, 
if you will — but it would be an impossibility for any monarch, of larger 
dimensions than Oberon, to take a duck in it !" 

Such, however, is the extent of general Mexican antiquarianism ; their 
knowledge of history reaches to the reign of the last monarch but one of 
the ancient Empire, and if a monument or an idol is not referable to 



GROVE OF THE CONTADOR. 235 

Monfezuma it is disposed of most summarily by the universal — " Quien 
sabe !" 



It was growing quite late (after descending the hill of Tezcosingo to 
the plain at the north of it,) as we passed through the estate of the ex- 
Marquis of V , known as " La Molina./' or the Mill. Extensive plant- 
ations of grain and maguey spread out over a vast expanse of country, 
and no buildings are perceptible until you approach the edges of a wide 
barranca, traversed by a stream from the mountains, freshening the ver- 
dure of clusters of shrubbery, that conceal the rocks and rugged sides 
of the ravine. After falling over a number of precipices, as the glen 
deepens, and forming some beautiful cascades, the brooklet gradually 
spreads out on the flats to the west, and here (niched in the last steeps of 
the tangled barranca,) have been erected the lofty dwelling, stores and 
mills of the farmer Marquis. Farther up the glen, beyond the dwelling, 
and reached by a narrow entrance which almost bars approach, the taste- 
ful owner has formed the gorge through which the stream gurgles into one 
of the most exquisite retreats that can be imagined. The barranca is 
quite narrow ; in its centre the brook skims along over a rocky bed ; its 
sides have been smoothed and planted ; grassy seats are built around 
sward covered recesses ; rare flowers are imbedded in spots, where, 
shielded from the' storms, they are ever fresh and bloomino- ; a tinv 
chapel is erected on a jutting rock, and breaks the silence with its silvery 
bell ; and, over all, the lofty trees (meeting in a Gothic arch from bank to 
bank,) cast their eternal shade throughout the scarcely varying seasons. 
It is the most beautiful hijou of rural design that I have seen in Mexico. 
Indeed, it is equalled by few, elsewhere, and may be regarded as the more 
remarkable, as the whole has been formed out of what was once but an 
unsightly gully. 

l-2th Octoher. We rode to-day to the Contador, another relic of Monte- 
zuma. It is a noble grove of cypresses, about a league northwest of 
Tezcoco. It was, however, not only our intention to see those trees ; but 
Don Ignacio had eagerly persuaded us to join him in a plover-shooting 
expedition, on the marsh lands near the lake. I was, therefore, as you 
may well imagine, exceedingly surprised to find our guide waiting at 
his door, to accompany us, mounted on a lull! My first disposition was 
to laugh ; but he prevented it by a smile, and a request to " wait until 
v/e got among the chicliiquillotes, and see what a sportsman his beast 
was!" Tio is remarkable for his hunting strategy; and, besides his 
bull, (with which he hunts even in the mountains,) he has invented 
a pipe that perfectly counterfeits the bleating of deer ; and by its sound 
he has often attracted a dozen around him, while lying concealed in the 
ooverts of the forest. Upon the whole, he is a perfect Yankee in inventive 
talent for the destruction of game ; and I doubt not that, if it were his 



236 MEXICO. 



lot to live for a season on the banks of the Chesapeake, he would manage 
to convert himself occasionally into a stalk of " wild celery," to decoy the 
canvas-backs within reach of his weapon. 



A ride of an hour over flats, partially covered with wretched looking 
salt-works, brought us to the grove of the Contactor, which had been dis- 
tinctly visible as soon as we left the garden suburb of Tezcoco. 

Our party led their horses toward some higher ground, north of the 
square, which is formed by a double Ime of magnificent cypresses, near 
five hundred in number, and inclosing about ten acres of ground — while 
I (although warned by Ignacio) kept on to the interior of the grove, in- 
tending to coast around the trees in expectation of finding abundance of 
game. After lingering for half an hour m the grove, and finding my 
labor useless, I thought it best to take a short cut across the square in 
order to reach my companions ; but, scarcely had my horse advanced a 
dozen paces over the apparently solid earth, when he suddenly halted 
and snorted, as if unwilling to proceed. I applied both whip and spur ; 
and, in the next moment, he was a bove his girths — sinking in a morass ! 
I sprang immediately on top of the saddle, and, seizing the lasso, leaped 
to the last spot where the animal had stood firmly. In the meantime my 
poor beast was sinking deeper and deeper — and when, by dint of the whip 
and encouragement, I brought his head around, he had already sunk to 
the saddle-cloth. Rolling himself slightly on his side, he made room to 
lift his legs, and thus, gradually floundered out of the deceptive marsh. 
When I rejoined my friends, they congratulated me on escaping as for- 
tunately as I had done. 

At the northwestern angle of this square I found a double row of 
cypresses, running westwardly toward a dyke. North of this again, I 
discovered a deep tank, of oblong shape, neatly walled with cut stone, 
and filled with water. Of the great antiquity of all these remains 
there can be no doubt, and it struck me that the interior of the cypress 
square was once a pond or mimic lake, filled no doubt from the neighbor- 
ing Tezcoco, and forming part of the gardens of the luxurious monarchs. 
Unless this were the case, it is difficult to account for the spongy and 
yielding mass in the centre of the grove, while the surrounding grounds 
are dry and cultivated. 

After lingering in the pleasant shade for an hour, and amusing our- 
selves with rifle-shooting at zopilotes perched on the highest branches of 
the cypresses, we started off (marshalled by tio on his bull Sancho,) 
toward the marshes that lay between the grove and town. Just as we 
were passing through a small Indian village near the salt-works, a thun- 
der storm came on, and we immediately took shelter in the house of one 
of Ignacio's numerous acquaintances. The worthy man was a candle- 
maker by trade, and had a manufactory in full blast in the adjoining 



AN ODD SPORTSMAN. 1^37 

room. The neighborhood, of course, was anything but fragrant ; yet he 
drove out a couple of sheep, chickens and turkeys from a corner-:— ar- 
ranged our saddles for chairs on the earthen floor — and we were soon 
enjoying a refreshing lunch of tortillias and pulque. 

After the shower had passed we again sallied forth, and reaching the 
marshy flats, amused ourselves with watching the operations of Ignacio, 
instead of making war ourselves upon the delicate birds. After wander, 
ing about for some time without starting game, Ignacio at last perceived 
a flock alight a hundred yards to the north of him. He dismounted 
immediately — waved his hand to us to remain quiet — crouched behind 
the bull, and putting the animal in motion, in the direction of the birds, 
they both crept on together until within gunshot. Here, by a twitch at 
his tail, the beast was stopped, and began munching the tasteless grass 
as eagerly as if gratifying a relishing appetite. Ignacio then slowly 
raised his head to a level with the bull's spine and surveyed the field of 
battle, while the birds paddled about the fens unconscious of danger. 
Althougn evidently within good shooting distance, the tio discovered that 
he had not precisely got a raking range; and therefore, again dodging 
behind his rampart, put the bull in motion for the required spot. This 
attained, he levelled his gun on The animal's back and fired — honest 
Sancho never stirring his head from the grass ! Several birds fell, while 
the rest of the flock, seeing nothing but an unbelligerent bull, scarcely 
flew more than a dozen yards before they alighted again — and thus, the 
conspiring beast and sportsman sneaked along, from shot to shot, until 
nearly the whole flock was bagged ! 

The result of the afternoon's work was a plentiful platter, around 

which we gathered in the hospitable dwelling of L ; and not the 

least entertainment of the evening was a song from the "tio,'' and a wild 
dance called "the Zopiloie,'' which he accomplished after several supple- 
mentary tumblers of capital pulque. 

13th October. Although our researches in this neighborhood are fin- 
ished, we can to-day get no conveyance to JVIexico. There is not a 
vehicle to be had in the town; the boats do not leave until to-morrow, 
and I feel indisposed to undergo the fatigue and exposure of a day's jour- 
ney on horseback over the plains between the lakes. 

I have therefore resolved to wait for the Indian canoes, and, in the 
meantime, will connect some sketches of interesting ruins that I find in 
memoranda made by me during the study of various authors who have 
written on American and Mexican antiquities. 

I do so, because the works in which these subjects are discussed are 
exceedingly expensive, and rarely to be found either in this country or 
in Europe ; and I desire, moreover, to show how completely the whole 
of this country has, at one time, been covered with an active and intelli- 
gent population, the only hints of whose history are left in the ruins of 
their splendid architecture. 



AN ACCOUNT 



OF 



ANCIENT REJMAINS 



ON THIS CONTINENT, 



Mou>"DS and tumuU covering human relics, have been traced from 
Wales across the continent, through Russia and Tartary. I have been 
able to find no account of these works on the western side of the Rocky 
mountains, or in the direction of Behring's Straits ; but, from the limits 
of Ouiskonsin, they constantly increase in number and extent.* 

On the south side of Ontario, one of these remains, not far from Black 
river, is, I am informed, the farthest that has been discovered in a north- 
eastern direction. One on the Chenango river, at Oxford, is the farthest 
south on the eastern side of the AUeghanies, of undoubted and untradi- 
tional antiquity. 

In travelling westwardly toward Lake Erie, some are to be found in 
Genessee County, but they are scarce and small until we arrive at Cat- 
taraugus Creek, where, according to the late Governor Clinton, a chain 
of forts commences, extending southwardly upward of fifty miles, at a 
distance from each other of not more than four or five. 

South of these again, extensive works were discovered at Circleville, 
at Chillicothe, at the mouth of the Scioto and Muskingum, at Cincin- 
nati, at St. Louis, and at numerous points along the Valleys of the Ohio 
and Mississippi. 

Among these tumuli and fortifications, a variety of interesting relics 
have been found by their explorers. Vessels of earthenware, utensils 
of copper, painted pottery, vases of curious form, copper beads, and cir- 
cular plates of the same material, carvings in stone, silver and gold orna- 
ments ; and, at Natchez and near Nashville, idols of stone, which are not 
unlike those heretofore represented in my letters as existing in Mexico. 
Drawings of these idols are given in the Archceologia Americana, at pages 
211 and 215 of the first volume. 

• Most intereetin? accounts, accompanied by plates, of the ancient remains in Ouiskonsin Territory, and jj 
the great war path firom the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, are to be found in the January number of Sillimaa'i 
Joninal for 1843, and also in the 31lh volume of that valuable work. 



INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 239 

Extensive mural remains are scattered over the immense plain, from 
the southern shore of Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico, and may be 
traced around the Gulf, across Texas into New Mexico, increasing in 
size and splendor as they advance toward the south. The student who de- 
sires to examine the subject more minutely, may refer to the before-men- 
tioned volume of the Archseologia Americana, where he will find a long 
and interesting treatise by Mr. Attwater ; — the plates of which will illus- 
trate the size and character of these works more satisfactorily tnan any 
mere verbal descriptions. 

I have thus traced a continuous chain of structures, chiefly of earthen 
mounds, and trifling relics pertaining to the necessaries of life, defence, 
and worship, throughout the greater portion of our western territory until 
it joins the soil of Mexico. I will now proceed with the account of such 
antiquities, of an architectural character, besides those already described 
by me, as have come to my knowledge in the latter Republic. 

In the year 1773, the Padre Francisco Garces, accompanied by Padre 
Font, in the course of their travels in the northern departments of Mex- 
ico, arrived at a vast and beautiful plain on the south bank of the river 
Giia, running westwardly from the great chain of the Rocky mountains, 
and falling into the Gulf of California between the thirty-third and thirty- 
fourth degrees of north latitude. There the travellers discovered remains 
of extensive works and ruins, covering a square league of ground, in 
the midst of which was an edifice, called by them the "Casa Grande." 

Like most of the Indian works, it was built of unburned bricks, and 
measured about four hundred and My feet in length, by two hundred 
and fifty in breadth. Within this edifice they found traces of five apart- 
ments. A wall, broken at intervals by lofty towers, surrounded the build- 
ing, and appeared to have been designed for defence. The remains of 
a canal were still perceptible, by which the waters of the Gila had been 
conveyed to the ruined town. 

The neighboring plains were covered (like the ruins I have recently 
described at Tezcoco and Tezcosingo,) with fragments of obsidian, and 
glazed and painted pottery ; the Indians of the vicinity were found by 
the explorers to be mild, civil, and intelligent people, devoted to the cuJU- 
vation of the soil, and possessing in no degree the ferocity or savage hab- 
its of the Cumanches or Apaches. 

Northwestwardly from Chihuahua, and southwestwardlv from these 
ruins, near the thirtieth degree of latitude, are similar remains ; and in 
the mountains in the latitude of 2T 28', there is a multitude of caverns 
excavated from the solid rocks, on the sides and walls of which are 
painted the figures of various animals, and of men and women, in dresses 
by no means unlike the habiliments of the ancient Mexicans, as de- 
picted in drawings and pictures that have been preserved until our day, 



240 MEXICO, 

Some of the caves discovered by Father Joseph Rotea, are described as 
being thirty feet in length by fifteen in breadth, and are supposed by 
writers to have been, perhaps, the "seven abodes" from which the Mexi- 
can tradition describes their ancestors as having issued when they be- 
gan their emigration. 

QUEMADA. 



North of the city of Mexico, in the department of Zacatecas, (a coun" 
try that is supposed to have been inhabited by the Chicimecas and Otto- 
mies at the period of the conquest,) situated on the level of a hill top, 
which rises out of the plain like another Acropolis, are the extensive re- 
mains of an Indian city, known as the " Ruins of Quebiada."* 

The northern side of the cerro rises with an easy slope from the plain, 
and is guarded by bastions and a double wall, while, on the other sides, 
the steep and precipitous rocks of the hill itself, form natural defences. 
The whole of this elevation is covered with ruins; but on the southern 
side, chiefly, may be traced the remains of temples, pyramids, and edi- 
fices for the priests, cut from the living rock, and rising to the height of 
from two to four hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country. 
These rock-built walls are sometimes joined by mortar of no great te- 
nacity, and the stones (many of which are twenty-two feet in thicJaiess, 
and of a corresponding height,) are retained in their positions mainly by 
their own massiveness. 

The opposite engraving represents the patio, or courtyard of a temple, 
as drawn by M. Nebel. On the back pE^rt of the square is raised the 
pyramid, or teocalli, on which was placed the altar and idol. The stairs 
behind the teocalli conduct to other temples and pyramids beyond, and 
served, perhaps, as seats for the spectators of the bloody rites that were 
celebrated by the priests. 

The most satisfactory account I have seen of these ruins, is given by 
Captain Lyon in a volume of his travels in Mexico. 

" We set out," says he, "on our expedition to the Cerro de los Edifi- 
cios, under the guidance of an old ranchero, and soon arrived at the 
foot of the abrupt and steep rock on which the buildings are situated. 
Here we perceived two ruined heaps of stones, flanking the entrance to 
a causeway ninety-three feet broad, commencing at four hundred feet 
from the cliff. 

" A space of about six acres has been inclosed by a broad wall, of 
which the foundations are still visibla^ running first to the south and after- 
ward to the east. OfT its southwestern angle stands a high mass of 
stones, which flanks the causeway. In outward appearance it is of a 
pyramidal form, owing to the quantities of stones piled against it either 
by design or by its own ruin ; but on closer examination its figure could 

* This name has beea given from that of an adjacent hacieirea. 



RUINSOFQUEMADA. 241 

be traced by the remains of solid walls, to have been a square of thirty- 
one feet by the same height : the heap immediately opposite is lower and 
more scattered, but in all probability formerly resembled it. Hence the 
grand causeway runs to the northeast until it reaches the ascent of the 
cliff, which, as I have already observed, is about four hundred yards dis- 
tant. Here again are found two masses of ruins, in which may be traced 
the same construction as that before described ; and it is not improbable 
that these two towers guarded the inner entrance to the citadel. In the 
centre of the causeway, which is raised about a foot and has its rough 
pavement uninjured, is a large heap of stones, as if the remains of some 
altar ; round which we could trace, notwithstanding the accumulation of 
earth and vegetation, a paved border, of flat slabs arranged in the figure 
of a six-rayed star. 

"We did not enter the city by the principal road, but led our horses 
with some difficulty up the steep mass formed by the ruins of a defensive 
wall, inclosing a quadrangle two hundred and forty feet by two hundred, 
which, to the east, is still sheltered by a strong wall of unhewn stones, 
eight feet -in thickness and eighteen in height. A raised terrace of twenty 
feet in width passes round the northern and eastern sides of this space, 
and on its southeast corner is yet standing a round pillar of rough stones, 
of the same height as the wall, and nineteen feet in circumference. 

" There appear to have been five other pillars on the east, and four on 
the northern terrace ; and as the view of the plain which lies to the south 
and west is hence very extensive, I am inclined to believe that the square 
has always been open in these directions. Adjoining to this, we entered 
by the eastern side to another quadrangle, entirely surrounded by perfect 
walls of the same height and thickness as the former one, and measurino- 
one hundred and fifty-four feet by one hundred and thirty-seven. In this 
were yet standing fourteen very well-constructed pillars, of equal dimen- 
sions with that in the adjoining inclosure, and arranged, four in length 
and three in breadth of the quadrangle, from which on every side they 
separated a space of twenty-three feet in width: probably the pavement 
of a portico of which they once supported the roof. In their construction, 
as well as that of all the walls which we saw, a common clay having 
straw mixed with it has been used, and is yet visible in those places 
which are sheltered from the rains. Rich grass was growing in the spa- 
cious court where Aztec monarchs may once have feasted ; and our cat- 
tle were so delighted with it that we left them to graze while we walked 
about three hundred yards to the northward, over a very wide parapet, 
and reached a perfect, square, flat-topped pyramid of large unhewn 
stones. It was standing unattached to any other buildings, at the foot of 
the eastern brow of the mountain, which rises abruptly behind it. On 
the eastern face is a platform of twenty-eight feet in width, faced by a 
parapet wall of fifteen feet, and from the base of this extends a second 
platform with a parapet like the former, and one hundred and eighteen 
feet wide. These form the outer defensive boundary of the mountain, 
16 



242 MEXICO. 

whicli from its figure has materially favored their construction. There 
is evei'y reason to believe that this eastern face must have been of great 
importance. A slightly raised and paved causeway of about twenty-five 
feet descends across the valley, in the direction of the rising sun ; and 
being continued on the opposite side of a stream which flows through it, 
can be traced up the mountains at two miles distance, until it terminates 
at the base of an immense stone edifice, which probably may also have 
been a pyramid. Although a stream (Rio del Partido) runs meandering 
through the plain from the northward, about midway between the two 
elevated buildings ; I can scarcely imagine that the causeway should 
have been formed for the purpose of bringing water to the city, Which 
is far more easy of access in many other directions much nearer to the 
river, but must have been constructed for important purposes between the 
two places in question ; and it is not improbable, that it once formed the 
street between the frail huts of the poorer inhabitants. The base of the 
large pyramid measured fifty feet, and I ascertained, by ascending with a 
line, that its height was precisely the same. Its flat top was covered with 
earth and a little vegetation ; and our guide asserted, although he knew 
not whence he received the information, that it was once surmounted by 
a statue. Off" the southeast corner of this building and at about fifteen 
yards distant, is to be see-n the edge of a circle of stones about eight feet 
in diameter, inclosing, as far as we could judge on scraping away the 
soil, a bowl-shaped pit, in which the action of fire was plainly observable ; 
and the earth, from which we picked some pieces of pottery, was evi- 
dently darkened by an admixture of soot or ashes. At the distance of 
one hundred yards southwest of the large pyramid, is a small one, twelve 
feet square, and much injured. This is situated on somewhat higher 
ground, in the steep part of the ascent to the mountain's brow. On its 
eastern face, which is toward the declivity, the height is eighteen feet ; 
and apparently there have been steps by which to descend to a quadran- 
gular space, having a broad terrace round it, and extending east one hun- 
dred feet by a width of fifty. In the centre of this inclosure is another 
bowl-shaped pit, somewhat wider than the first. Hence we began our 
ascent to the upper works, over a well-buttressed yet ruined wall, built 
to a certain extent, so as to derive advantage from the natural abruptness 
of the rock. Its height on the steepest side is twenty-one feet, and tha 
width on the summit, which is level, with an extensive platform, is the 
same. This is a double wall, one of ten feet having been first constructed 
and then covered with a very smooth kind of cement, after which the 
second has been built against it. The platform (which faces to the south, 
and may to a certain extent be considered as a ledge from the cliffl) is 
eighty-nine feet by seventy-two ; and on its northern centre stand the 
ruins of a square building, having within it an open space of ten feet by 
eight, and of the same depth. In the middle of the quadrangle is to be 
seen a mound of stones eight feet high. A little farther on, we en- 
tered by a broad opening between two perfect and massive walls, to a 



RUINSOFQUEMADA. 243 

square of one hundred and fifty feet. This space was surrounded on the 
south, east, and west, by an elevated terrace of three feet by twelve in 
breadth, having in the centre of each side steps, by which to descend to 
the square. Each terrace was backed by a wall of twenty feet by eight 
or nine. From the south are two broad entrances, and on the east is one 
of thirty feet, communicating with a perfect inclosed square of two hun- 
dred feet, while on the west is one small opening, leading to an artificial 
cave or dungeon, of which I shall presently speak. 

" To the north, the square is bounded by the steep mountain ; and, in the 
centre of that side, stands a pyramid with seven ledges or stages, which 
in many places are quite perfect. It is flat-topped, has four sides, and 
measures at the base thirty-eight by thirty-five feet, while in height it is 
nineteen. Immediately behind this, and on all that portion of the hill 
which presents itself to the square, are numerous tiers of seats, either 
broken in the rock or built of rough stones. In the centre of the square, 
and due south of the pyramid, is a small quadrangular building, seven feet 
by five in height. The summit is imperfect, but it has unquestionably 
been an altar ; and from the whole character of the space in which it 
stands, the peculiar form of the pyramid, the surrounding terrace, and 
the seats or steps on the mountain, there can be little doubt that this has 
been the grand Hall of Sacrifice or Assembly, or perhaps both. 

" Passing to the westward, we next saw some narrow inclosed spaces, 
apparently portions of an aqueduct leading from some tanks on the sum- 
mit of the mountain; and then were shown the mouth of the cave,-or sub- 
terraneous passage, of which so many superstitious stories are yet told 
and believed. One of the principal objects of our expedition had been to 
enter this mysterious place, which none of the natives had ever ventured 
to do, and we came provided with torches for the purpose : unfortunately, 
nowever, the mouth had very recently fallen in, and we could merely 
see that it was a narrow, well-built entrance, bearing in many places the 
remains of good smooth plastering. A large beam of cedar once sup- 
ported the roof, but its removal by the country people had caused the 
dilapidation which we now observed. Mr. Tindal, in knocking out some 
pieces of regularly burnt brick, soon brought a ruin upon his head, but 
escaped without injury ; and his accident caused a thick cloud of yellow 
dust to fall, which on issuing from the cave assumed a bright appearance 
under the full glare of the sun ; — an effect not lost upon the natives, who 
became more than ever persuaded that an immense treasure lay hidden 
in this mysterious place. The general opinion of those who remember 
the excavation is, that it was very deep ; and, from many circumstances, 
there is a probability of its having been a place of confinement for vic- 
tims. Its vicinity to the great hall, in which there can be little doubt that 
the sanguinary rites of the Mexicans were once held, is one argument in 
favor of this supposition ; but there is another equally forcible — its im- 
mediate proximity to a cliff" of about one hundred and fifty feet, down 
which the bodies of victims may have been precipitated, as was the cus- 
16* 



244 MEXICO. 

torn at the inhuman sacrifices of the Aztecs.* A road or causeway, to 
be noticed in another place, terminates at the foot of this precipice, ex- 
actly beneath the cave and overhanging rock ; and conjecture can form 
no other idea of its intended utility, unless as being in some manner con- 
nected with the purposes of the dungeon. 

" Hence we ascend to a variety of buildings, all constructed with the 
same regard to strength, and inclosing spaces on far too large a scale for 
the abode of common people. On the extreme ridge of the mountain 
wei'e several tolerably perfect tanks. 

" In a subsequent visit to this extraordinary place, I saw some other 
buildings, which had at first escaped my notice. These were situated on 
the summit of a rock terminating the ridge, at about half a mile to the N. 
N.W. of the citadel. 

" The first is a building originally eighteen feet square, but having the 
addition of sloping walls to give it a pyramidal form. It is flat-topped, 
and on the centre of its southern face there have been steps by which to 
ascend to the summit. The second is a square altar, its height and base 
being each about sixteen feet. These buildings are surrounded at no 
great distance by a strong wall, and at a quarter of a mile to the north- 
ward, advantage is taken of a precipice to construct another wall of 
twelve feet in width upon its brink. On a small flat space, between 
this and the pyramid, are the remains of an open square edifice, to the 
southward of which are two long mounds of stone, each extending about 
thirty feet ; and to the northeast is another ruin, having large steps up 
its side. I should conceive the highest wall of the citadel to be three 
hundred feet above the plain, and the bare rock surmounts it by about 
thirty feet more. 

" The whole place in fact, from its isolated situation, the disposition of 
its defensive walls, and the favorable figure of the rock, must have been 
impregnable to Indians; and even European troops would have found great 
difficulty in ascending to those works, which I have ventured to name the 
Citadel. There is no doubt that the greater mass of the nation which 
once dwelt here, must have been established upon the plain beneath, since 
from the summit of the rock we could distinctly trace three straight and 
very extensive causeways, divei'ging from that over which we first passed. 
The most remarkable of these runs southwest for two miles, is forty-six 
feet in width, and, crossing the grand causeway, is continued to the foot of 
the cliff", immediately beneath the cave which I have described. Its more 
distant extreme is terminated by a high and long artificial mound, imme- 
diately beyond the river, toward the hacienda of La Quemada. We 
could trace the second, south and southwest to a small rancho named 
Coyote, about four miles distant ; and the third ran southwest by south, 
still farther, ceasing, as the country people informed us, at a moun- 
tain six miles distant. All these roads had been slightly raised, were 

* The writings of Clavigero, Solis, Bernal Diaz, and others, describe this mode of disposing of tlie bodies of 
those whose hearts had been torn out and offered to the idol. 



RUINSOFQUEMADA. 245 

paved with rough stones, still visible in many places above the grass, and 
were perfectly straight. 

'• From the flatness of the fine plain over which they extended, I cannot 
conceive them to have been constructed as paths, since the people, who 
walked barefoot and used no animals of burthen, must naturally have 
preferred the smooth, earthy footways, which presented themselves on 
every side, to these roughly paved ones. If this be allowed, it is not dif 
ficult to suppose that they were the centre of streets of huts, which, being 
in those times constructed of the same kind of frail materials as those of 
the present day, must long since have disappeared. Many places on the 
plain are thickly strewed with stones, which may once have formed build- 
ing materials for the town ; and there are extensive modern walls round 
the cattle farms, which, not improbably, were constructed from the near- 
est streets. At all events, whatever end these causeways may have an- 
swei'ed, the citadel itself still remains, and from its size and strength 
confii'ms the accounts given by Cortez, Bernal Diaz, and others of the 
conquerors, of the magnitude and extent of the Mexican edifices, but 
which have been doubted by Robertson, De Pau, and others. We ob- 
served also, in some sheltered places, the remains of good plaster, con- 
firming the accounts above alluded to ; and there can be little doubt that 
the present rough, yet magnificent buildings, were once encased in wood 
and whitened, as ancient Mexico, the towns of Yucatan, Tobasco, and 
many other places are described to have been.* 

" The Cerro de los Edificios, and the mountains of the surrounding 
range, are all of gray porphyry, easily fractured into slabs, and this, with 
comparatively little labor, has furnished building-materials for the edifices 
which crown its summit. We saw no remnants of obsidian among the 
ruins or on the plain — which is remarkable, as being the general sub- 
stance of which the knives and arrow-heads of the Mexicans were 
formed ;■{■ but a few pieces of a very compact porphyry were lying about, 
and some appeared to have been chipped to a rude form resembling arrow- 
heads. 

" Not a trace of the ancient name of this interesting place, or that of 
the nation which inhabited it, is now to be found among the people in the 
neighborhood, who merely distinguished the isolated rock and buildings by 
one common name, 'Los Edificios.' I had inquired of the best instructed 
people about these ruins ; but all my researches were unavailing, until I 
fortunately met with a note in the Abbe Clavigero's History of Mexico, 
which throws some light on the subject. ' The situation of Chicomoztoc, 
where the Mexicans sojourned nine years, is not known ; but it appears 
to be that place, twenty miles distant from Zacatecas, toward the south, 
where there are still some remains of an immense edifice, which, accord- 

* See the Voyage of Juan de Grijalva, in 1518 ; also Bernal Diaz. Cortez, ClaviRero. and others. 

t It is not improbable, however, that this material was unknown to the nation who dwelt here, if, according 
to the Abbe Clavigero, this city was one of the earliest settlements of the Aztecs, before they estabhshed them- 
selves in the Valley of Mexico, near which (at Real del Monte urincipally) the obsidian is found in great abun- 
dance, although I believe that no traces of it are seen in the more northern provinces. 



246 



MEXICO. 



ing to the tradition of the Zacatecanos, the ancient inhabitants of that 
country, was the work of the Aztecs on their migration ; and it certainly 
cannot be ascribed to any other people, the Zacatecanos themselves being 
so barbarous as neither to live in houses nor to know how to build them.' ' 



MAPILCA. ■ 

Following the course of the river Tecolutla from its mouth near 
Nautla, and directing himself across the Virgin mountains and plains, Mr. 
Nebel found, at the distance of a few leagues from Papantla, the ruins 
of a city, near an Indian rancho called Mapilca. 

it is impossible, he states, to define precisely the limits of this ancient 
work, because it is now entirely covered with thick vegetation, and a 
forest, the silence of which has, perhaps, never been disturbed by an axe. 
He nevertheless discovered some pyramids, many large sculptured stones, 
lud some other indications of an extensive city and civilized people. 




SCTTLPTUKED STONE AT MAPILCA. 

• Clavigero, vol. :. book ii. p. ISS.-Torquemada says, that the capital city of the Chechemecas was cafled 
Amaquemacan. He says this place was 600 miles distant from where the city of Guadalaxara now stands. 
Clavi-ero who quotes this passage and comments upon it in a note, remarlcs that " in more than one thousand two 
hundrwl miles of inhabited country beyond that city, there is nol the least trace or memory of Amaquemacan. 
May not tlie <:ity I have described be the capital in question 1 




TEMPLE AT T TJ S A P A N . 



RUINS OF T U S A P A N. 247 

The stone, represented in the cut, is twenty-one feet long and of compact 
granite ; its carving is oddly different from anything else we have seen 
among Mexican antiquities, and it is supposed, by Nebel, to have formed 
part of an edifice. He caused an excavation to be made by the Indians in 
front of this fragment, and, at a short distance below the surface, struck 
upon a road formed of irregular stones, not unlike the ancient pavements 
in the neighborhood of Rome. The picturesque traveller (whose book, 1 
regret, is too large and expensive for republication in our country,) ex- 
ceedingly regrets that he was unable to prosecute his inquiries and exam- 
inations in this neighborhood. He was alone, and unaided in the forests, 
except by a few idle and ignorant Indians ; yet he has presented his 
readers with a drawing of this curious fragment, as the sign of a civili- 
zation that once reigned in a country which was hitherto imagined to have 
been inhabited alone by wild beasts and reptiles. 



TUSAPAN. 



We have now advanced, in the course of this examination, into the 
tierra caliente, near the eastern coast of Mexico. Fifteen leagues west 
from Papantla, lie the remains of Tusapan, supposed to have been a city 
of the Totonacos. They are situated in the lap of a small plain at the 
foot of the Cordillera, and are relics of a town of but limited extent. 
Of all these, however, nothing remains in great distinctness but the pyr- 
amidal monument, or Teocalli, of which the opposite drawing is given by 
Nebel. 

This edifice has a base line of thirty feet on every side, and is built of 
irregular stones. A single stairway leads to the upper part of the first 
story, on which is erected a quadrangular house or tower, — while, in 
front of the door, still stands the pedestal of the idol, though- all traces 
of the figure itself are gone. The interior of this apartment is twelve feet 
square, and the roof terminates in a point like the exterior. The walls 
have evidently been painted, but the outlines of the figures are no longer 
distinguishable. 

The door and the two friezes are formed of sculptured stones ; but it is 
evident from the fragments of carving, and a variety of figures of men 
and animals that lie in heaps about the rest of the city, that this temple 
was, in point of adornment, by no means the most splendid edifice of 
Tusapan. 

Nebel has also presented us with a drawing of the following sino-ular 
monument, which he found among the ruins of this ancient city. 



248 



MEXICO. 




FOUNTAIN AT TUSAPAN. 



It is a statue, nineteen feet high, cut from the solid rock. The dress 
clearly indicates the figure to be that of a squatting woinan, with her head 
inclining on one side. Behind the head, there are remains of a pipe con- 
veying water to the body, through which it passed somewhat in the style of 
the celebrated fountain of Antwerp. From this figure, the stream was car- 
ried by a small canal to the neighboring city, and the whole is supposed, 
by Monsieur Nebel, to have been dedicated as the idol of some god or 
goddess of the waters. 

There is a tradition extant that the people who once inhabited Tusapan, 
finding their soil comparatively steril, and their springs failing, emigrated 
to Papantla, — to which we come next in the course of our antiquarian 
ramble. 

PAPANTLA. 



The village of that name lies sixteen leagues from the sea, and fifty- 
two north from Vera Cruz, at the base of the eastern mountains, in the 
midst of fertile savannahs, constantly watered by streams from the neigh- 




PYRAMID OF PAPANTIA. 



RUINSOFPAPANTLA. 249 

boring hills. Although it is the centre of a country rennarkable for 
fertility,* the Indian village has scarcely a white inhabitant, with the ex- 
ception of the Curate and some few dealers, who come from the coast to 
traffic their wares for the products of the soil. The people of the upper 
country dislike to venture into the heat and disease of the tierra caliente ; 
and, in turn, its inhabitants dislike an exposure to the chills of the tierras 
frias. or templadas. Thus the region of Papantla, two leagues from the 
village, has hitherto remained an unexplored nook, even at the short dis- 
tance of fifty miles from the coast ; and, although it was alluded to by 
Baron Humboldt, it had never been correctly drawn, or even accurately 
described before the visit of M. Nebel. The neighboring Indians, even, 
had scarcely seen it, and considerable local knowledge was required to 
trace a path to the relic through the wild and tangled forest. 

There is no doubt, from the masses of ruins spread over the plain, that 
this city was more than a mile and a half in circuit. Although there 
seems good reason to believe that it was abandoned by its builders after 
the conquest, there has still been time enough, both for the growth of the 
forest in so warm and prolific a climate, and for the gradual destruction 
of the buildings by the seasons and other causes. Indeed, huge trees, 
trailing plants and parasite vines have struck their roots among the cran- 
nies and joints of the remaining pyramid, and, in a few years more, will 
consign even that remnant to the common fate of the rest of the city. 

The opposite plate presents a view of the pyramid, (called by the 
natives, " El Tajin,") as seen by Nebel, after he had cleared it of trees 
and foliage. It consists of seven stories, each following the same angle 
of inclination, and each terminated, as at Xochicalco, by a frieze and 
cornice. The whole of these bodies are constructed of sand-stone, neatly 
squared and joined, — and covered, to the depth of three inches, with a 
strong cement, which appears, from the remains of color in many places, to 
have been entirely painted. The pyramid measures precisely one huu- 
dred and twenty feet on every side,f and is ascended, in front, by a stair- 
way of fifty-seven steps, divided in three places, by small box-like recesses 
or niches two feet in depth, similar to those which are seen perforating 
the frieze of each of the bodies. This stairway terminates at the top of 
the sixth story, the seventh appearing (although in ruins,) to have been 
unlike the rest, and hollow. Here, most probably, was the shrine of the 
divinity and the place of sacrifice.:!: 



* The productions here are vanilla, sarsaparilla, pepper, wax, cotton, coffee, tobacco, a variety of valuable 
woods, and sugar, produced annually from canes, which it is necessary to plant only every seven or eight years. 

t Nebel does not give the elevation, but says there are 57 steps to the top of the sixth story— each step meas 
uring one foot in height. 

I Vide Humboldt, vol. ii., 345— and Nebel. 



250 MEXICO. 

MISA.NTLA. 



Passing by the Island of Sacrificios, (of which I have already given 
some account, when treating of the Museum of Mexico,) I will now de- 
scribe the ruins that were discovered as recently as 1835, adjacent to 
MisANTLA, near, the city of Jalapa and not very far from the direct road 
to the Capital. 

The work from which I extract my information is the Mosaico Mexi- 
cano, to which it was contributed, I believe, by Don Isidrio Gondra. 

On ia lofty ridge of mountains in the Canton of Misantla, there is a hill 
called Estillero, (distant some thirty miles from Jalapa,) near which lies 
a mountain covered with a narrow strip of table-land, perfectly isolated 
from the surrounding country by steep rocks and inaccessible barrancas. 
Beyond these dells and precipices there is a lofty wall of hills, from the 
summit of one of which the sea is distinctly visible in the direction of 
Nautla. The only parts of the country by which this plain is accessi- 
ble, are the slopes of Estillero ; — on all other sides the solitary mountain 
seems to have been separated from the neighboring land by some violent 
earthquake that sunk the earth to an unfathomed depth. 

On this secluded and isolated eminence, are situated the remains of an 
ancient city. As you approach the plain by the slopes of Estillero, a 
broken wall of large stones, united by a weak cement, is first observable. 
This appears to have served for protection to a circular plaza, in the cen- 
tre of which is a pyramid eighty feet high, forty-nine feet front, and forty- 
two in depth. 

The account does not state positively whether this edifice is constructed 
of stone, but it is reasonable to suppose that it is so from, the wall found 
around the plaza, and the remains which will be subsequently mentioned. 
It is divided into three stories, or rather, there are three still remaining. 
On the broadest front, a stairway leads to the second body, which, in turn, 
is ascended at the side, while the top of the third is reached by steps cut 
in the corner edge of the pyramid. In front of the teocalli, On the second 
story, are two pilastral columns, which may have formed part of a stair- 
case ; but this portion of the pyramid, and especially the last body, is so 
overgrown with trees that its outline is considerably injured. On the very 
top, (driving its roots into the spot that was doubtless formerly the holy 
place of the Temple,) there is a gigantic tree, which, from its immense ' 
size in this comparatively high and temperate region, denotes a long period 
since the abandonment of the altar where it grows. 

At the periphery of the circular plaza around this pyramid, commence 
the remains of a town, extending northerly in a straight line for near a 
league. Immense square blocks of stone buildings, separated by streets 
at the distance of about three hundred yards from each other, mark the 




PTKAMID OF MISA5T1A. 



RUINS OF M I S A N T L A AND M I T L A . 251 

sites of the ancient habitations, fronting upon four parallel highways. 
In some of the houses the walls are still three or four feet high, but of 
most of them there is nothing but an outline tracery of the mere founda- 
tions. On the south, there are tlie remains of a long and narro^v wall, 
which defended the city in that quarter. 

North of the town there is a tongue of land, occupied in the centre by 
a mound, or cemetery. On the left slope of the hill by which the ruins 
are reached, there are, also, twelve circular sepulchres, two yards and a 
half in diameter, and as many high ; the walls are all of neatly cut 
stone, but the cement with which they were once joined has almost en- 
tirely disappeared. In these sepulchres several bodies were found, parts 
of which were in tolerable preservation. 

Two stones — a foot and a half long, by half a foot wide — were discov- 
ered, bearing hieroglyphics, which are described, in general terms, as 
" resembling the usual hieroglyphics of the Indians." Another figure 
was found representing a man standing ; and another, cut out of a firm 
but porous stone, which was intended to portray a person sitting cross- 
legged, with the arms also crossed, resting on his knees. This, however, 
was executed in a very inferior style. Near it, were discovered many 
domestic utensils, which were carried to Vera Cruz, whence they have 
•been dispersed, perhaps, to the four quarters of the globe. 

It is thus, in the neglect of all antiquities in Mexico, in the midst of 
her political distractions and bloody revolutions, that every vestige of her 
former hist-ory will gradually pass to foreign countries, instead of enrich- 
ing the Cabinets of her University, and stimulating the inquisitiveness of 
her scientific students. 



MITLA. 



I will close this notice of Mexican Architectural Remains, with an 
account of the ruins of Mitla, as described by Mr. Glennie, and Baron 
Humboldt, from whose great work the sketch of one of the mural frag- 
ments opposite the next page, has been taken. 

In the Department of Oaxaca, ten leagues distant from the city of that 
name, on the road to Tehuantepec, in the midst of a granitic country, 
surrounded by sombre and gloomy scenery, lie the remains of what have 
been called, by the general consent of antiquarians, the Sepulchral 
Palaces of Mitla. According to tradition, they were built by the Zapo- 
tecs, and intended as the places of sepulture for their Princes. At the 
death of members of the royal family, their bodies were entombed in the 
vaults, beneath ; and the sovereign and his relatives retired to mourn over 
the loss of the departed scion, in the chambers above these solemn abodes, 
screened by dark and silent groves from the public eye. Another tra- 
dition devotes the edifices to a sect of priests, whose duty it was to live 



252 MEXICO. 

in perfect seclusion, and offer expiatory sacrifices for the royal dead who 
reposed in the vaults beneath. 

The village of Mitla was formerly called Miguitlan, signifying, in the 
Mexican tongue, "a place of sadness;" and, by the Zapotecs, L^oba, or 
"The tomb." 

These palace-tombs formed three edifices, symmetrically placed on a 
romantic site. The principal building (which is still in the best pres- 
ervation,) has a length of near one hundred and fifty feet. A stairway 
leads to a subterranean apartment of about one hundred feet by thirty in 
width, the walls of which are covered with ornaments, a la grique, simi- 
lar to those that adorn the exterior walls represented in the drawing. 
These ornaments are inlaid in a mosaic of porphyritic stones, and resem- 
ble the figures found on Etruscan vases, and on the frieze of the temple 
of the god Redicolus, near the Egerian grotto at Rome. 

The engraved fragment represents a comer of one of the edifices, and 
you cannot fail to remark a similarity to some of the designs presented to 
the public by Mr. Catherwood, in his researches farther south. 

The ruins of Mitla are distinguished, I believe, from all the remains of 
ancient architecture in Mexico, by six columns of porphyry, placed in the 
midst of a large saloon, and supporting the ceiling. They have neither 
bases nor capitals, and are cut, in a gradually tapering shape, from a solid 
stone rather more than fifteen feet in length. The dimensions of the 
stones that cover the entrances of the principal halls, are stated by Mr. 
Glennie to be as follows : 



1 


Length. 

19 feet 6 inches. 


Breadth. 

4 feet 10 inches. 


Thickness. 

3 feet 4 inches. 


2 


18 " 8 " 


4 " 10 " 


3 " 6 " 


3 


19 " 4 " 


4 " 10^ " 


3 " 9 '•' 



Mr. De Laguna has discovered, among the ruins, some curious paint- 
ings of war trophies and sacrifices; and Humboldt remarks, that the 
distribution of the apartments in the interior of this building presents 
some striking similarities to the monuments of Upper Egypt, as de- 
scribed by Mr. Denon, and the savans of the Institute of Cairo. " In 
comparing the grandeur of these tombs with the meanness of the habita- 
tions of the former race," says the Baron, " we may exclaim, with Dio- 
dorus Siculus, that there are people who erect their most sumptuous 
monuments for their dead alone, regarding existence as too short and 
transitory to be worth the trouble of erections for the living !"f 

It was the same in Egypt. The hereafter, and not the present, en- 
gaged the hearts of its ancient race. In Mexico, the temple to worship 
in, and the tomb for final repose, seem to have been the chief care of the 

*The reader will find a ground plan of these remains in Delafield's " Antiquities of America"— page 55, taken 
from Baron Humboldt's Atlas. 
t Vide Humboldt, vol. ii, page 322. et seq. Paris edition, 1811. 




ICALE OF VABAS . K UISS AT MITIA. 



THEHONESTHUNTER. 253 

people. It was a pious and philosophic devotion of time, worthy as well 
of Christian nations as of those believing in the necessary care of their 
worthless bodies, until the period of their ultimate reunion with the spirit. 

I have thus hastily gathered together some sketches of the remains that 
cover our Continent from the remote north of our own possessions to near 
the region of Mr. Stephens's discoveries. 

If they fail to identify the Southern nations with the Northern tribes, or 
to prove that the rude mound of the savage was but the precursor of 
the stone pyramid of the civilized southern, they will at least serve to 
show that at the north, as well as in more genial climates, there have 
been races who worshipped the Great Spirit, buried their dead, defended 
themselves from their foes, and possessed, at least, a partial taste for the 
refinements of life. At all events, it is not probable that the remains so 
plentifully sprinkled over the Mexican territory, from the Rio Gila to the 
limits of Oaxaca, were untenanted and unused at the period of the con- 
quest, while it is known that the cities of Mexico and of Cholula contained 
within their limits magnificent edifices, devoted to the domestic comfort 
and public worship of a refined and numerous population. 



HOME. 



14:th October. Returned to Mexico. The last person who bade us fare- 
well in Tezcoco, was the worthy Tio Ignacio — of whose hunting-bull, 
deer-call, rough honesty, and wild adventures, I shall long retain a pleas- 
ing recollection. 

"I am poor, Caballero," said he, with a grasp of his hard hand, "I am 
poor, and have led a dog's life of it from the age of five years — fighting, 
bull-catching, beef-selling, hunting and living with the Indians up in the 
mountains for weeks, with, no covering but my blanket and a pine tree ; — 
but I have managed, nevertheless, to raise a large family of boys, all 
of whom can ride better than I; can catch a bull at full gallop; know 
how to read and write ; tell the truth ; obey their father without question- 
ing, and hit the mark at eighty varas! I owe no man a claco. I love 
my horse, my gun, my pulqui, — and, better than all, I love my old wife, 
who, with all my wildness, passion, and temper, has never quarrelled 
with me in a casamiento of twenty years ! Who says as much in Mexico ? 
Vaya ! 

" Come to Tezcoco once more, Caballero, and we will go up to Tlaloe 
together with my people, the Indians, and I'll make that old demonio give 
UD some of the bones of his ancestors— ^z'caro .' Adios!" 



LETTER XXV. 

WHENCE CAME THE ANCIENT POPULATION ? WHO BUILT THE ANCIENT CITIES ? 
WHO WORSHIPPED THE IDOLS ? 



After this somewhat extended inspection of the Monuments of Mexi- 
can antiquity, the question naturally proposes itself to our minds : — Who 
were the builders of these temples, the worshippers of the idols, and 
whence did they come ? Separated now by wide and lonely seas from the 
Continents of the Old World, was there once a period when the lands were 
united, and the same race spread over both ? Or, are we to doubt the 
traditional and written histories of ages, and believe that an original race 
peopled the American wilds, and built and worshipped after the prompt- 
ings of their own spirits ? 

These are questions that have puzzled and must conimue to puzzle the 
antiquarians of both hemispheres. They cannot be solved. The tradi- 
tions — the habits — the languages — the edifices — of all tribes, races, and 
nations, have been studied and contrasted without result. Separate theo- 
ries have been earnestly and ingeniously advanced. First, that the 
inhabitants came by the north and through Behring's Straits. Second, 
that they came by the islands of the Pacific, or that in times long past, 
the Pacific was not all sea, but partly filled, perhaps, with a vast Conti- 
nent — and Third, that they may have arrived from the Old World by the 
Atlantic. There are long periods of unwritten and even untraditional 
history of the world, and learned and pious geologists seem now to be 
agreed in believing that when it is declared : " In the beginning God cre- 
ated the heaven and the earth," it is not affirmed that God created the 
heaven and the earth on the first day, but that "this ' beginning' may have 
been an epoch, at an unmeasured distance, followed by periods of unde- 
fined duration, during which all the physical operations disclosed by geol- 
ogy were going on."* 

This is certainly satisfactory as to the formation of the earth — a 
mere fulcrum for the development and powers of a future human race. 
But, must not the Bible be considered a full historical account of "all 
the operations of the Creator in times and places with which that human 

*BuckIand, vol. i, p.26. 



PEOPLING OF AMERICA. 255 

race is concerned ?" Is it daring to question this ? How small is the 
geographical space covered by the history of the Old Testament ! It is 
an established fact, that the whole of the animal races are not common to 
both Continents. A great variety of quadrupeds have been found in 
America that were unknown in Europe, and the same is true in regard 
to birds and fish. 

It is difficult to touch this question, without interfering with the authority 
of the Pentateuch ; but if we were at liberty to discuss such matters, there 
are few who would not hold the doctrine, that it is perfectly reconcilable 
with rational science to believe, that the two Continents existed contempo- 
raneously from the oldest periods, filled with distinct races, of separate 
customs, manners, habits and languages ', who, by the simple and natural 
impulses of humanity arrived at similar results, in religion, science, archi- 
tecture and government. Animals found in both hemispheres arrive at 
the same results — why may not man ? It is replied, that they are guided 
alone hj instincts? Is it not by his zras^'ncis, improved by his reason, 
that man, too, is led to every operation of his varied life ? By the ruins 
which are left, of what those instincts and reason once produced on this 
Continent, we are alone enabled to judge of our ancestors. Defence — pro- 
tection from the weather — religion — the calculation of time — the necessity 
of food ; — these are the chief instinctive wants and promptings of man's 
natui'e. Men suffer from the seasons, from sun and shower, — hence dwel- 
lings. Men have a natural feeling of adoration, gratitude, dependence, — 
hence religion, groves, altars, mounds, and even pyramids, as they advance 
in civilization. Men behold the natural changes of day and night ; the 
motion of the sun, moon and stars ; they note that there is an equality 
of time and season, and that these are comparatively of longer or shorter 
duration at different periods of the year, — and hence a calendar. Men 
are social, and congregate into societies, and in the process of time their 
natural passions beget discontent and wars, — hence fortifications and 
weapons of defence. Men hunger, — and hence the invention of instruments 
by which they succeed in the sports of the field, or control the chase. 
And, at length, with all the elements of civilized society around them, in 
shrines, bulwarks, domestic retreats, arsenals, social love, and national 
glory — they come to have a history ; and, with the laudable desire of per- 
petuating the memory of themselves and of their epoch, you find at Pa- 
lenque, as well as in Egypt and on the Ganges, those figured monuments 
which tell the tale of the departed great, by symbols, letters, paintino-s or 
hieroglyphics. 

Now, separated by thousands of leagues of sea from the Eastern hem- 
isphere, and with men who had no means, but the frail canoe, of transport- 
ing themselves over it, you suddenly alight on these shores, in the midst 
of the sixteenth century ; — and find temples, idols, the remains of dwellings, 
fortifications, weapons of defence and chase, astronomical calendars, and 
people, worshipping, living and governing in the midst of every external 
evidence of ancient civilization. The whole of North America, we have 



25G MEXICO. 

seen, and a large portion of South America, is strewn with these or 
similar remains, from Canada to far below the equator. Here, in the 
north, it is supposed that there were three races, succeeding each other, 
two of which have vanished even from tradition. 

" The monuments oi" the Jirst, or primitive race," said the late William 
Wirt, " are regular stone walls, wells stoned up, brick hearths, found in 
digging the Louisville canal, medals of copper, silver swords, and other 
implements of iron. Mr. Flint assures us that he has seen these strange 
ancient swords. He has also examined a small iron shoe, like a horse- 
shoe, incrusted with the rust of ages, and found far below the soil, and a 
copper axe, weighing about two pounds, singularly tempered and of pecul- 
iar construction. 

" These relics, he thinks, belonged to a race o^ civilized men, who must 
have disappeared many centuries ago. To this race he attributes the 
hieroglyphic characters found on the limestone bluffs ; the remains of cities 
and fortifications in Florida ; the regular banks of ancient live-oaks near 
them ; and the bricks found at Louisville, nineteen feet helow the surface, 
in regular hearths, with the coals of the last domestic fire upon them; — these 
bricks were hard and regular, and longer in proportion to their width than 
those of the present day. 

" To the second race of beings are attributed the vast mounds of earth, 
found throughout the whole western region, from Lake Erie and western 
Pennsylvania to Florida and the Rocky mountains. Some of them con- 
tain skeletons of human beings, and display immense labor. Many of 
them are regtilar mathematical figures, parallelograms and sections of 
circles, showing the remains of gateways and subterranean passages. 
Some are eighty feet high, and have trees growing on them, apparently 
of the age of five hundred years. They are generally of a soil differing 
from that which surrounds them, and they are most common in situations 
where it since has been found convenient to build towns and cities. 

" One of these mounds was levelled in the centre of Chillicothe, and 
cart-loads of human bones removed from it. Another may be seen in Cin- 
cinnati, in which a thin circular piece of gold, alloyed with copper, was 
found last year. Another in St. Louis, named the " Falling Garden," is 
pointed out to strangers as a great curiosity. 

" Many fragments of earthenware, some of curious workmanship, have 
been dug up throughout this vast region ; some represented drinking vessels, 
some human heads, and some idols ; — they all appear to have been moulded 
by the hand, and hardened in the sun. These mounds and earthen im- 
plements indicate a race inferior to \hQ first, which was acquainted with 
the use of iron. 

" The third race are the Indians now existing on the Western Terri- 
tories. In the profound silence and solitude of these regions, and above 
the bones of a buried world, how must a philosophic traveller meditate 
upon the transitory state of human existence, when the only traces of the 
beings of two races of men are these strange me?norials ! On this very spot 



REMAINS IN PERU, 



257 



generation after generation has stood, lived, warred, grown old and passed 
away ; and not only their names, but their nation, their language lias per- 
ished, and utter oblivion has closed over their once populous abodes ! We 
call this the New World. It is old ! Age after age, and one physical revo- 
lution after another has passed over it — but who shall tell its history?'''' 

Who ? We have seen the memorials of three distinct races — but who 
can tell the origin of the first two — or even of the last ? And, yet, these 
are only part of the inhabitants of North America. 

I have attempted to describe to you the prominent remains that still exist 
farther south, in' the Valley of Mexico, and in other portions of the Re- 
public. Following the links of the chain still farther south. Messieurs 
Stephens and Catherwood have given an account oi forty cities visited by 
them in their second tour ; and they describe the ruins of others and their 
monuments, still more southerly, in their former volumes. 

In South America, we have only the most distinct accounts of Peru ; 
and although the Government of the Incas possessed no regular city but 
Cuzco, many interesting specimens have been exhumed from the " Gua- 
cas," or mounds, with which they covered the bodies of the dead. " Among 
these," says Dr. Rees, are "mirrors of various dimensions, oi hard shining 
stones, highly polished ; vessels of earthenware, of different forms ; hatchets 
and other instruments, some destined for war, and others for labor. Some 
were of flint, some of copjjer, hardened by an unknown process, to such a 
degree as to supply the place of iron." To these may be added a variety 
of curious drinking vessels, made of pottery baked and painted ; many 
specimens of which embellish the public and private Museums of our 
country, and are not unlike some that have been found in the Island of 
Sacrificios., 




PERUVIAN WATER VESSELS 



The public roads of the Peruvians were also v.^orthy of all praise ; 
especially those two magnificent highways traversing the country from 
Quito to Cuzco for fifteen hundred miles ; — the one passing through the in- 
17 



258 MEXICO. 

terior over mountain and valley, and the other by the plains of the sea- 
coast. But, in the construction of their Temples this remarkable people 
exhibited their greatest ingenuity, as well as in their edifices designed for 
the comfort and occupation of their sovereigns. " The Temple of Pacha- 
camac, together with the Palace of the Inca, and Fortress, were so con- 
nected together, as to form one great structure above half a league in 
circuit. Though they had not discovered the use of mortar, or of any 
other cement in building, the bricks and stones are joined with such nicety 
that the seams can hardly be discerned. Notwithstanding the inconve- 
nient arrangement of the apartments, and the want of windows, the archi- 
tectural works of the Peruvians, which still remain, must be considered 
as stupendous efforts of a people unacquainted with the use of iron and 
the mode of applying the mechanical powers. Among the ancient edi- 
fices of this people, we may mention the Obelisk and Statues of Tiahu- 
anuca, and Mausoleums of Chachapoyas, which are conical buildings of 
stone, supporting rude busts of huge and massive dimensions."* 

Yet all that these remains from north to south, through such a varied 
extent of latitude and climate, can effect, is to strike us with wonder, 
and stimulate, though they puzzle our most eager curiosity. The monu- 
ments, themselves disclose nothing of the origin of the races. Is there, 
then, a written record ? Are there any volumes or scattered leaves re- 
maining to tell the story ? 

The only remnant of this character that I have been able to discover 
(and it is slightly referred to by Mr. Stephens,) is, what is called an Aztec 
manuscript, which was purchased in 1739 by Goetz, at Vienna, during a 
literary tour he made to Italy, and is now preserved, under the name of 
Codex Mexicanus, in the Royal Collection of Dresden. 

It is written on metl, or paper undoubtedly made of the leaves of the 
Agave Americana, similar to others brought from Mexico and preserved 
at Veletri, Vienna, and in the Vatican. It is described as forming a 
tabella plicalis, or folding book, which may be shut up like a map; nearly 
eighty-one yards in length, and covered, on both sides, with paintings and 
written characters. Each page is about seven inches in length by three 
inches and a little more in breadth. One side of the page is occupied 
by painted figures, and the rest by signs or letters placed side by side, and 
by no means unlike the Chinese, or the hieroglyphic characters delin- 
eated by Mr. Catherwood, as partly covering the monuments at Palenque 
and Copan. 

The opposite plate is a precise copy of one page of this manuscript as 
given by Baron Humboldt, in his Atlas, except that I have been unable 
to present you with the brilliant blue, red, green and yellow colors that 
tint the figures and give to the whole the appearance and -effect of an 
illuminated missal. 

A writer in the sixteenth volume of the Edinburgh Review, at page 
222 of the American edition, casts doubts on the genuineness of this man- 

* Rees, vol. xxviii. article, Peru. 





m:mw[:m 












felIfi9(lllP(iS<3?iI 
C3 en? J"®" 




UEXICAX MAirUSCHIPT. 



MEXICAN MANUSCRIPT. 259 

uscript, as being of Aztec origin ; he thinks '•' it highly improbable thai 
it is Mexican, as nothing like it has yet been found among the monuments 
of that people ; while, on the other hand, it seems probable that it is the 
workmanship of the same race that reared and inhabited Palenque, 
seeing that similar characters abound among its ruins." One of the 
strongest circumstantial evidences, in all legal investigations of the au- 
thenticity of documents, is the material on which they are written. False 
wills have thus been detected by the date in the "water mark ; and, in this 
instance, it will be recollected that the material is precisely similar to 
that which is known to have been brought from Mexico, containing draw- 
ing, that were undoubtedly made by the Aztecs. In addition to this, it is 
a work written and painted on paper made of the Agave Americana, or 
American Aloe, not a single one of which is delineated by Mr. Cather- 
wood as growing wild among the ruins of Palenque. In fact, it is a plant 
almost unknown in the level and warmer territories near the coast ; it is 
peculiar to the elevated plateaus of the Valley of Mexico and the adja- 
cent country, and I do not remember to have seen it, in the course of my 
journey through the tierra caliente, even at the short distance of sixty 
miles south of the Capital in the vale of Cuernavaca. If it be replied 
to this that the paper or leaf may have been brought to Palenque from 
Mexico, the answer would at once show a connection of arts between the 
people, and go far to prove their national identity or close alliance and 
intercourse. It should be remembered, too, that works like this would 
very naturally have been the first to be destroyed in Mexico, and the 
smallness of their number would thus be successfully accounted for. 

From these facts we may fairly argue that this book of eighty yards in 
length, covered with written characters and illuminated with pictures, is, in 
all probability, a Mexican production. The figures of the men or demons 
are evidently similar, both in physignomy, posture and faces, to those on the 
monuments and idols I have already described to you. But who shall 
decipher their meaning, or that of the hieroglyphics ? 

For years the antiquarians of the Old World were guessing at the 
signification of Egyptian hieroglyphics, until, in 1799, a French engi- 
neer, when digging the foundations of Fort St. Julien, on the west bank 
of the Nile, between Rosetta and the sea, discovered the fragment of a 
stone which is now deposited in the British Museum. It contained an in- 
scription in hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek — two of which are ancient 
Egyptian languages. The Greek was deciphered and the translation 
applied to the Demotic, and both, again, to the hieroglyphic ; and, thus, 
after years of patient and unceasing toil, a key has been formed by which 
the present savans of Europe go among the relics of Egypt, and decipher 
the inscriptions on their tombs as easily as we read the mementoes over the 
graves of our friends in the cemeteries of Boston or Baltimore. But even 
if a Rosetta stone. were discovered in Mexico, there is no Indian tongue 
to supply the key or interpreter. 
17* 



260 MEXICO. 

We are thus, in all probability, for ever stopped in our investigations of 
the origin of these races ; — either from their Monuments or their written 
Records. We are left to trace national relations by similar buildings, 
similar dresses, similar traditions, similar worship, similar governments, 
or similar faith; but all these identities are not inconsistent with the idea 
arrived at by Mr. Bradford in his Researches on the Origin and History 
of the Red Race, that the Aborigines of America may have been " a prim- 
itive branch of the human family."* 

I confess, when I recollect the Mexican tradition, that the original tribes 
came to their beautiful valley, after many years and vicissitudes of a 
dreary pilgrimage from the north, I have not thought it fanciful to be- 
lieve, that they may have belonged to one of the two races described by 
Mr. Wirt, as extinct before the origin of the present Red Men of our for- 
ests and prairies. Wave after wave of the flowing tide of humanity may 
have beaten gradually along this Continent from north to south, each urg- 
ing on the preceding. Tired of the hunter life at the inhospitable north, 
they wandered off to the south. A straggler now and then returned with 
a tale of the genial climate, shady groves, and prolific soil of the central 
regions ; — and, thus, family after family, colony after colony, tribe after 
tribe, was induced to quit its colder homes, and settle in the south. As 
in the Old World, that south became the centre of civilization. Men 
were modified by climate. The rude savage, who depended upon the 
chase for subsistence at the north, and dwelt in caves or sheltered under 
the forest leaves, awoke to a new idea of life in his newer home. The 
energy of his character was not yet lost ; — he saw the magical power of 
agriculture, and a new idea was revealed to him through its mysterious 
agency. There was no need of excessive toil in the fields or in the for- 
ests. His spirit became less warlike, and more social, as men congregated 
in populous neighborhoods. While, in the north, the merest and fewest 
necessaries — his weapon, his breastwork, his fireplace, his cave for a 
dwelling, and a mound for a grave — sufficed the Indian, his whole purposes 
and instincts assumed a diflferent character in the south. 

The warrior and hunter loved the hardships taught him at the north, 
by his wandering habits from infancy ; — but, the burning sun and milder 
climate of the south, while they inclined to peace and longevity, induced 
him to build tasteful and sheltering edifices for himself and his posterity. 
The adoration of his gods, became an enthusiasm, under more fervid skies ; 

* In Mr. Norman's work on Yucatan at page 218, there is a letter from Doctor Morton, the celebrated author 
of " Crania Americana," in which, after expressing his thankfulness to Mr. N. for the opportunity aiforded him 
of examining certain bones brought from Yucatan, he observes, that, " dilapidated as they are, theu characters, 
as far as 1 can ascertain them, correspond with all the esteological remains of that people which have hitherto 
come under my observation, and go to confirm the position, that all the American tribes (excepting the Esqui- 
maux, who are obviously of Asiatic origin,) are of the same unmixed race. I have examined the skulls (now in 
my possession) of four hundred individuals belonging to tribes which have inhabited almost every region ot North 
and South America, and I find the same type of organization to pervade and chamcterixe them all. 

" I much regret that we have in this country so few skulls of the Mongolian or Polar tribes of Northern Asia. 
These are all important in deciding the question whether the Aboriginal American race is peculiar and distinct 
from all others ; a position which I hhv. always maintained, and which I think will be verified when the requisite 
means of comparison are procured." 



EMIGRATION OF THE TRIBES. 261 

and the vow or the worship that were once offered in the recesses of groves, 
in the silence of dark woods, or on the mountain-top, — were here poured 
forth on the lofty pyramid, built by human hands and fashioned by hu- 
man art. 

Although we are left in this mystery as to the peopling of America, 1 
think there is not so much doubt in regard to the inhabitants of Uxmal, 
Palenque, Copan, Chichen-Itza, and the various cities that have been 
described by Mr. Stephens. 

According to Clavigero, a tribe, known as the Toltecs, left their home 
in the north, and, after a journey of emigration that lasted 104 years, 
(during which time they frequently tarried in certain places for years 
and months, erecting edifices and partially establishing themselves,) they, 
at length, reached the vale of Anahuac, a territory that subsequently be- 
came the seat of the Mexican Empire. At Tollan, or Tula, they founded the 
Capital of a dynasty, which lasted 384 years ; — celebrated for its wisdom, 
knowledge, and extensive civilization. About 1051, (the tradition runs,) 
famine and pestilence nearly desolated the kingdom, and a great por- 
tion of those who escaped the ravages of disease emigrated immediately 
to Yucatan and Guatemala, leaving but a scattering remnant of this once 
flourishing empire in Tula and Cholula. 

For one hundred years afterwai'd Anahuac was nearly depopulated. 

Then came an emigration of the Chichimecas, from the north, like the 
Toltecs, and from a place which they called Amaquemecan. These, 
too, intermingling with the Toltec remnants, had their reign among the 
ruins of the former empire, — dwelling, however, in small villages, and 
lacking all the elements of civilization. 

Eight years after their advent to Anahuac, six tribes called the Nahu- 
atlacks arrived, having left, at a short distance, a seventh, called Aztecs. 
Shortly afterward, they were joined by their missing tribe and by the 
Acolhuans, who are said to have emigrated from Teoacolhucan, near the 
original country of the Chichimecas. These were, undoubtedly, the most 
enlightened of all the wandering tribes who had penetrated these valleys 
since the days of the Toltecs, and they speedily formed an alliance with 
their ancient neighbors. 

Of all these wanderers, however, we have now no traditions, except in 
relation to the Aztecs, who, departing from Azatlan in the north about the 
year 1160, continued their singular and weary pilgrimage, with frequent 
delays, until 1325 ; when, finding on a rock in a lake, the " Eagle on the 
Prickly Pear," (the omen to which they had been prophetically directed 
for the foundation of their future Capital,) they gathered together among 
the marshes of Tezcoco, and built the city of Tenochtitlan, — the Mexico 
of Cortez. It is believed, both by Clavigero and Humboldt, that all these 
tribes of the Toltecs, Acolhuans, Chichimecas and Nahuatlacks, spoke the 
same language, and therefore, in all probability, emigrated from about 
the same degree of northern latitude. 



263 MEXICO. 

Besides these tribes, there were others in the country at the period of 
the conquest. The Tarascos who inhabited Michoacan, the barbarous 
Ottomites, the Ohnecs and Xicalancas, and Miztecas and Zapotecas ; — ^the 
latter of whom are held, by Humboldt, to have been even superior to the 
Mexicans in point of civilization, and were probably antecedent, in the 
date of their emigration, to the Toltecs. In addition to this, you must 
bear in mind that the ancient Mexican Empire did not cover (as is usually 
supposed,) the whole of what is now the Republic of M'exico, or formerly 
New Spain. On the east, it was bounded by the river Coatzacualco ; on 
the north, it did not extend farther than Tusapan ; on the west, it was 
washed by the Pacific ; and on the south, it reached, in all probability, to 
near the limits of what are now the provinces of Chiapas and Tobasco.* 

You will recollect, that after the " pestilence and famine" that thinned 
the numbers of the Toltecs, the greater portion of the survivors emi- 
grated to Yucatan and Guatemala ; these were a highly civilized people, 
— living in houses, and building temples — to whom, perhaps, the Mexicans 
were indebted for the germ of their subsequent refinement. Is it not, 
then, highly probable, that the ancient ruins found by Mr. Stephens, 
scattered over Guatemala, Yucatan and Chiapas, were the palaces and 
temples of this wandering race ? It strikes me, that no one can compare 
the unquestionably Toltec Vase found in the department of Tula, and 
described at page 108, the sculptures on the Stone of Sacrifice, at page 
119 j and in fact the general characteristics of all the sculpture, idols 
and figures heretofore represented, with those delineated by Mr. Cather- 
wood, and doubt the identity or close connection between the people. 
We have every evidence of high civilization among the Mexicans, as you 
have observed in the preceding pages. They had temples, gods, gardens, 
magnificent dwellings, and all the paraphernalia of a splendid Empire. 
This Empire was in full power and glory at the period of the Spanish 
conquest. Its southern limit nearly bounded on Guatemala and Yucatan, 
and, with the most distant portion, there was, unquestionably, a com- 
munication kept up by the Capital. Why, then, may not the palaces of 
Uxmal, Palenque and Chiapas, have been inhabited, and their altars and 
temples used, as places of sacrifice in the days of Cortez, as well as the 
heights of Chapultepec — or the Teocalli of Mexico ? 

The silence of contemporary historians in regard to the former cities of 
Yucatan and Guatemala, is no argument against their having been inhab- 
ited. The two best writers, Cortez and Bernal Diaz, were soldiers, not 
antiquarians. They came for conquest, not research ; and it is greatly 
to be regretted that a history of Guatemala, known to have existed a 
few years ago in that country, in the original manuscript of Diaz, (and 
which was once in the possession of Mr. Whitehead, of Mexico,) has been 
utterly lost in the turmoils and confusion of that country. 

It seems to me impossible to believe that the Valley of Mexica was 
the only seat of refinement, taste, and luxury on the isthmus, or that so 

* Vide Humboldt, Clavigero, and JktcCuUoh. 



EMIGRATION OF THE TRIBES. 263 

powerful an Empire existed in all its splendor, while the pyramids, tem- 
ples, palaces, and edifices which are represented in the plates accompany- 
ing these letters, were abandoned to the forest and its beasts. I cannot 
believe, that in so small a geographical space there could be such palpa- 
ble anachronisms, — so much light in one spot with so much blackness next 
it; — that people, at the height of social and architectural refinement, 
should have had neighbors at the distance of 100, 200, or 300 miles, 
who were utter savages, while, a few degrees farther south, there was 
another stratum of known civilization in Peru. 

I do not rely upon all the dates, assigned by Mexican historians, for the 
rise and fall of the Toltecs and Aztecs. There is doubt among the best 
writers on these subjects. The period, during which their emigration 
from the north continued, may be correct ; but I question the accuracy of 
the time given for the commencement and spread of their respective mon- 
archies, especially, when we remember the numbers who fell either in 
battle or under the sacrificial knife. The empires were exceedingly pop- 
ulous, and it would seem to have required centuries to gather all the pop- 
ulation that existed in the vale of Anahuac after the ravages that termi- ' 
nated the Toltec sway. Besides this, the Mexicans rose to great refinement 
from absolute barbarism, or from the comparative ignorance and bad hab- 
its they had contracted during a long emigration. This requires time. 
The growth of nations is gradual. How long did it require to pile up 
the hill of Xochicalco — to dig its ditch of a league in extent — to quarry 
its immense stones — to bring them from their distant caves — to bear them 
to the summit of the mound — to pile them up in the several stories of the 
pyramid — and, lastly, to cover the whole with elaborate carving ? How 
long did it require to prepare the mind of a nation, step by step, for the 
idea and construction of such an edifice ; — which, we must remember, is 
but one out of thousands ! 

It is difficult to determine what might have been the extent of our 
knowledge of all the questions with which I began this letter, if the holy 
fathers, instead of making bonfires of Mexican records, had studied them 
with antiquarian zeal. Yet, I have at least satisfied myself, that if we 
know nothing of the origin of the people of America, we may at least 
be confident that Palenque, Uxmal, Copan, Mexico, Xochicalco, Teo- 
tihuacan, Cholula, Papantla, Tusapan, and Mitla, were the dwellings 
and temples of civilized nations at the period of the Spanish conquest. 
If ever the city of which Mr. Stephens heard, as existing among the 
mountains, (unvisited hitherto by white men,) is penetrated by some fu- 
ture band of adventurous travellers, the mystery may, perhaps, be solved. 
That such a city exists, I think by no means improbable, when it is re- 
collected, that near the town of Cuernavaca, not more, perhaps, than 
seventy miles from the Capital of Mexico, there is a populous and loell 
governed Indian village, enjoying its native Jiahits, and refusing to hold in- 
tercourse viith the Spaniards. How much more probable that there should 
be primitive tribes of which we have not the slightest information flour- 



264 MEXICO. 

ishing with their original laws, customs, towns, and temples, among the 
folds of the distant mountains in the bosom of our unexplored Continent !* 



NoTK.— The Mexican Cosmogony has four periods, when, it is alleged, that all mankind, with the exception of 
two or three individuals, perished. 

The 1st period was terminated by famine at the end of. 5206 years. 

" 2nd " " fire " " 4804 " 

" 3rd '■ " hurricane " " 4010 " 

" 4th " " deluge " " 4008 " 

In this deluge all perished, with the exception of Coxcox, and his wife Xochiquetial, who escaped in a canoe. 

I have already, at page 28, presented you an account of a Toltec legend, showing how one of the giants, 
called Xelhua, and his six brethren, were saved from the deluge on the mountain of Tlaloc, while all the rest of 
mankind perished in the waters or were transformed into fish. 

Josephus, quoting from the 96th book of JVicholas of Damascus, says " there is a great mountain in Armenia, 
over Mingas, called Baris, upon which, it is reported, that many who fled at the time of the deluge were saved ; 
and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore on the top of it ; and that the remains of the timber were 
a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews, wrote " 

In the construction, form, and object of the Mexican teocallis, there is a striking analogy to tlie tumuK and 
pyramids of the old world. According to Herodotus, the temple of Belus was a pyramid, built of brick and 
asphaltum, solid throughout, (xvpyoi arepos,) and it had eight stories. A temple (vaoj) was erected on its 
top, and another at its base. In like manner, in the Mexican teocallis, the tower, (voo j) was distinguished from 
the temple on the platform ; a distinction clearly pomted out in the letters of Corfez. Diodorus Siculus states, 
that the Babylonian temple served as an observatory to the Chaldeans ; so, the Mexican priests, says Humboldt, 
made observations on the stars from the summit of the teocallis, and announced to the people, by the sound of 
the horn, the hour of the night. The pyramid of Belus was at once a temple and a tomb. In like manner, the 
tumulus (x'^jxa) of Calisto in Arcadia, described by Pausanias as a cone, made by the hands of man, but cov- 
ered with vegetation, bore on its top the temple of Diana. The teocallis were also both temples and tombs; 
and tlie plain in which are built the houses of the sun and moon at Teotihuacan, is called the path of the dead. 
The group of pyramids at Gheeza and Sakkara in Egypt ; the triangular pyramid of the queen of the Scyth- 
ians, mentioned by Diodorus ; the fourteen Etruscan, pyramids which are said to have been inclosed in the 
labyrynth of King Porsenna at Clusiura : the tumulus of Alyattes at Lydia {see Modern Traveller, Syria and 
Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 153 ;) the sepulchres of the Scandinavian king Gormus and his queen Daneboda ; and the 
tumuli found in Virginia, Canada, and Peru, in which numerous galleries, built with stone and communicating 
with each by shafts, fill up the interior of artificial hills;— are referred to by the learned Traveller as sepulchral 
monuments of a similar character, but differing from the teocallis in not being, at the same time, surmounted 
with temples. It is perhaps too hastUy assumed, however, that none of these were destined to serve as buses for 
altars ; and the assertion is much too unqualified, that " the pagodas of Hindostan have nothing in common 
with the Mexican temples. That of Tanjore, notwithstanding that the altar is not at the top, bears a striking 
analogy in other respects to the teocallis."— See Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. pp. 81—107 ; Pol. Essay, voL 
ii. pp. 146—149 ; Mod. Traveller, vol. vi. p. 241. 

• Vide Appendix No. 3, at page 382, for a very interesting letter ftom Horatio Hale, Esq., on the connection 
of Indian languages. 



LETTER XXVI. 

CITY 01 MEXICO. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. PRISONS. PRISON STATISTICS. 
ACADEMY. PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. 

"We will return now from the edifices of Ancient Mexico, to the mod- 
ern institutions and erections of the Spaniards, who have displaced the 
Indians. 

I have already given you some descriptions of the City of Mexico, and 
the a,ppearance and character of the castle-like dwellings of the people ; 
but, (with the exception of the Cathedral,) I have as yet said nothing of 
the public edifices and churches. 

There are two Palaces in the City of Mexico, one of which is appro- 
priated to the Archbishop, and the other to the President and Government 
officers. 

The Archbishop's Palace fronts the northern end of the President's, 
and is plain and simple both within and without. The same may be said 
of the National Palace ; it has no architectural pretensions, and until the 
year 1842, was a long low pile of unadorned buildings, filled with a mis- 
erable collection of comfortless rooms. Upon the accession of General 
Santa Anna, however, a change took place. The Minister of Finance 
fitted up a suite of apartments for his bureaux, in a tasteful modern style ; 
and, in the months of August and September, the Grand Sala was en- 
tirely completed, and opened to the public for the first time on the anni- 
versary of the crowning victory of Mexican Independence. 

In this spacious and well-proportioned apartment they have gathered a 
quantity of gorgeous furniture, and placed, on a platform at the northern 
end, under a crimson canopy, a magnificently carved and gilded throne. 
Various flags, alleged to have been taken from the Texans, in battle, are 
affixed to staffs extending from the cornice. The walls are covered with 
large French mirrors, and the deep windows are festooned with the 
most tasteful upholstery of French artistes. I have wandered over 
the whole of this immense pile of edifices, but I recollect nothing else 
about it worthy of notice. The private apartments of General Santa 
Anna are plain, neat, and tasteful, and a full-length portrait of General 
Washington adorns an obscure chamber. 

In "an inner court, to the eastward, is the Botanic Garden, surrounded 
by the lofty walls of adjoining edifices. It is of small extent, and the 



266 

poor flowers, shut up 
ful nuns secluded for 
a Roman — aged, he 
little of his business, 
like a hermit, in the 
and amuses himself 
curiosity of the place^ 



MEXICO. 

in the dreary inclosure, seem like so many beauti- 
ever from the vulgar gaze. The chief gardener is 
alleges, more than a century — who either knows 
or has become useless by extreme age. He lives, 
shady nooks of his tangled and neglected garden, 
by pointing out to every visitor the greatest floral 
— the celebrated Arbol Manita. 




HAND FLOWER. 



The almost unpronounceable Indian name is Macpalxoch'quauhitI, the 
botanic, Chiranthodendron pentadactylon ; — but it is usually known as the 
" hand flower.'' Two trees only are said to exist in the Republic — one at 
Toluca and the other in the Capital ; — and it is chiefly remarkable for 
the brilliancy of its tints, and the claw that protrudes from its thorny cup 
— a singular mingling of bird and blossom. 

Behind the Palace are the Senate Chamber, and the Chamber of De- 
puties — both of them tasteful and comfortable apartments. The latter is 
of semicircular form, with a throne-like stage for the seat of the Presi- 
dent on public occasions ; — beneath its canopy are hung the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and the sword which Iturbide first drew in defence 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 267 

of Mexican liberty. The chairs of the members are ranged in two rows, 
rising one above the other against the walls of the semicircle, without 
desks ; and above these, again, are lodges, or boxes supported by pil- 
lars, for the audience. A well executed picture of the Victory of Tam- 
pico, occupies a panel over the door in front of the throne ; and on the 
table of the secretaries is placed the omnipresent crucifix. 

The buildings of the Mint form the back of the palace square, and 
are filled with the old and cumbrous machinery of the last century. I 
saw none of the modern improvements which have been inti'oduced both 
in Europe and in this country ; but I cannot pass over this institution 
without doing justice to the artistical skill of the artist, who is at pres- 
ent engaged in making new dies for the future coinage of the Republic. 
The taste and talent of this young gentleman were discovered by some 
of the chiefs of Government, and he was immediately dispatched to Rome, 
whence, after a few years study, he has returned to honor his native 
Capital with the works of his graver. 

I will say nothing of the old edifice of the Inquisition, with its vaulted 
rooms, its inner chambers, and its monastic gloom ; or of the neighboring 
church of the Dominicans, in the court-yard of which you are still shown 
the hollow among the stones, wherein the stake was erected that sustained 
the victims of their former auto's. There is no longer an Inquisition, or 
a faggot. 

Near this is the Aditana — or Custom House — which, like the Dipu- 
tacion, is a stately and commodious edifice. There are fourteen parish 
churches, six private churches, thirteen convents and seminaries for men, 
and twenty-two for women; six colleges, one university, and five hos- 
pitals and poor-houses. , 



MONTE PIO. 



The Monte Pig — a species of national pawnbroker establishment — is 
in the great Square, occupying the building known as the Palace of 
Cortez, said to be erected on the ruins of the ancient Palace of Monte- 
zuma. This is one of the most beneficent institutions in the world, and 
was founded in 1775, by the Conde de Regla, who endowed it with about 
^300, 000. Since that period it has been administered faithfully by the 
Government, and affords succor daily to more than two hundred persons. 
It is ruled by a general Board of Directors, and receives pledges of 
clothes, jewels, plate, and every species of valuables. These articles are 
appraised at a fair valuation, the amount of which (deducting the interest) 
is paid to the pawner; — ^they are then retained for six months, during 
which period the owner is at liberty to withdraw them upon repayment 
of the sum advanced. If the debt is not refunded at the end of that time, 
the pledges are disposed of at public sale ; and if they bring more under 



268 MEXICO 

the hammer than the valuation, the dijference is given to their original 
owners. 

From the foundation of this admirable Institute — which has been the 
means of preventing so much disgrace and misery during the revolution, 
ary difficulties of the Capital — 2,232,611 persons had received succor 
up to the beginning of 1836. During the same period it had distributed 
$31,674,702, besides giving $134,746 in alms. 

In the year 1837, it aided 29,629 persons by the distribution of $477, 
772, and gave $1,089 for masses to be said daily by three chaplains, whoy 
received a dollar for each of their services. 

You may form an idea of the number and variety of persons who 
derive assistance from the Monte Pio, by a walk through its extensive 
apartments. You will there find every species of garment, from the 
tattered reboso of the lepera to the lace mantilla of the noble dame ; 
every species of dress, from the blanket of the beggar, to the military 
cloak and jewelled sword of the impoverished officer; and, as to jewels, 
Aladdin would have had nothing to wish among the blazing caskets of 
diamonds for which the women of Mexico are proverbial. 

MINERIA. 



The MiNERiA — or School of Mines — is one of the most splendid edifices 
in America. It was planned and built by Tolsa — the sculptor of the 
statue of Charles IV. — and is an immense pile of stone, with courts, 
stairways, saloons, and proportions that would adoi'n the most sumptu- 
ous palaces of Europe. But this is all. The apparatus is miserable; the 
collection of minerals utterly insignificant ; the pupils few ; and, among 
the wastes and solitude of the pile, wanders the renowned Del Rio — one 
of the most learned naturalists of this hemisphere — ejaculating his sor- 
rows over the departed glory of his favorite schools. 

An edifice used for the manufacture of tobacco, situated at the north- 
western corner of the city, and erected by the old Spanish government, 
has been converted into a citadel. I never visited it, and can give no 
account of its interior. 



ACCORDADA, OR PUBLIC PRISON. 

Passing westward, toward the Paseo Nuevo from the Alameda, you 
cross the square in front of the Acordada, the common prison of the 
Capital. In the front of one of its wings a low-barred window is constantly 
open, and within, on an inclined plane, are laid the dead bodies found daily 
within the limits of the city. It is almost impossible to take your morning 
walk to the adjoining fields, without seeing one, and frequently two corpses, 
stretched bleeding on the stones. These are the victims of some sudden 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 269 

quarrel, or unknown murder during the night ; and all who miss a friend, 
a parent or a brother, resort to these iron bars to seek the lost one. It is 
painful to behold the scenes to which this melancholy assemblage fre- 
quently give rise, and hear the wails of sorrow that break from the home- 
less orphan, whose parent lies murdered on the stones of the dead-house. 

Yet this is scarcely more shocking than the scenes presented by the 
livings within the walls of the loathsome prison. A strong guard of mili- 
tary is stationed at the gate, and you enter, after due permission from the 
commanding officer. A gloomy stair leads to the second story, the en- 
trance to which is guarded by a portal massive enough to resist the assault 
of a powerful force. Within, a lofty apartment is filled with the officers 
of the prison and a crowd of subalterns, engaged in writing, talking, 
and walking — amid the hum of the crowd, the clank of chains, the shout 
of prisoners, and the eternal din of an ill-regulated establishment. 

Passing through several iron and wood barred gates, you enter a lofty 
corridor, running around a quadrangular court-yard, in the centre of 
which, beneath, is a fountain of troubled water. The whole of this area is 
filled with human beings — the great congress of Mexican crime — mixed 
and mingling, like a hill of busy ants swarming from their sandy caverns. 
Some are stripped and bathing in the fountain ; some are fighting in a 
corner ; some making baskets in another. In one place a crowd is gath- 
ered around a witty story-teller, relating the adventures of his rascally 
life. In another, a group is engaged in weaving with a hand-loom. Rob- 
bers, murderers, thieves, ravishers, felons of every description, and vaga- 
bonds of every aspect, are crammed within this court-yard ; — and, almost 
free from discipline or moral restraint, form, perhaps, the most splendid 
school of misdemeanor and villainy on the American Continent. 

Below, within the corridor of the second story — from which I have de- 
scribed the view of this wretched mass of humanity — a rather better sort 
of criminals are kept ; and yet, even here, many were pointed out to me 
as being under sentence of death, who still went about entirely without 
restraint. 

In one corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, where convicts for capi- 
tal offences are condemned to solitude and penance, during the three last 
days of their miserable life; and, at a certain hour, it is usual for all 
the prisoners to gather in front of the door, and chant a hymn for the 
victim of the laws. It is a solemn service of crime for crime. 

I did not see the prison for the women, but I am told it is much the same 
as the one I have just described. About one hundred of the men, chained 
in pairs like galley slaves, are driven daily into the streets, under a strong 
guard, as scavengers ; and it seems to be the chief idea of the utility of 
prisons in Mexico, to support this class of coerced laborers. 

There can be no apology, at this period of general enlightenment in the 
world, for such disgraceful exhibitions of the congregated vice of a coun- 
try. Punishment, or rather, incarceration, and labor on the streets, in the 
manner I have described, is, in fact, no sacrifice ; — ^both because public 



270 MEXICO. 

exhibition deadens the felon's shame, and because it cannot become an 
actual punishment under any circumstances of a lepero's life. Indeed, 
what object in existence can the lepero propose to himself? His day is 
one of precarious labor and income ; he thieves ; he has no regular home, 
or if he has, it is some miserable hovel of earth and mud, where his wife 
and children crawl about with scarce the instinct of beavers His food 
and clothing are scant and miserable. He is without education, or pros- 
pect of improvement. He belongs to a class that does not rise. He dulls 
his sense of present misery by intoxicating drinks. His quick temper 
stimulates him to quarrel. His sleep is heavy and unrefreshing, and he 
only rises to a day of similar uncertainty and wickedness. What, then, is 
the value of life to him, or to one like him ? Why toil ? Why not steal? 
What shame has he ? Is the prison, with certainty of food — more punish- 
ment than the free air, with uncertainty ? On the contrary, it is a lighter 
punishment; and as for the degradation, he knows not how to estimate it. 
Mexico will thus continue to be infested with felons, as long as its prison 
is a house of refuge, and a comparatively happy home to so large a portion 
of its outcast population.* 

I have collected some statistical information on these subjects, which I 
think will be interesting in connection with Mexican prisons, and prove 
how necessary it is, in the first place, to alter their whole system of 
coercive discipline ; and, in the second, to strike immediately at the root 
of the evil, by improving the condition of the people — by educating, and 
proposing advantages to them, in the cultivation of the extensive tracts 
of country that now lie barren over their immense territory. 

IMPRISONMENTS IN MEXICO FOR 1842. 

During the first six months of 1842, there were imprisoned in the City of 
Mexico, 3,197 men. 

1,427 women. 
During the second six months, . . - - 2,858 men. 

1,379 women. 



Total of both sexes for 1842, 8,861 

Without specifying each of the several crimes, for which these pereons 
were committed to prison, or being able, from all the accounts furnished 
me, to state the exact number of those who were finally convicted, I will 

* As an evidence of the little value these leperos place upon their lives,— an old resident in Mexico told me, 
that he had once been the witness of a street-fight between two women, which resulted in the use of knives, and 
the ripping of one's belly, so that her bowels were exposed. The wound was not fatal, and as soon as she had 
slightly recovered from the loss of blood, while the attendants were preparing a litter, she drew forth a ciffarritt 
fiom her bosom, obtained a light from a bystander, and was borne oif to the hospital, smoking os conlentedly as 
if preparing for a siesta ! 



Women. 


Total 


179 


491 


470 


1,970 


1,104 


3,233 


444 


1,056 


17 


87 


21 


86 


1 


8 





3 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 271 

present some lists of the numbers imprisoned for the chief crimes, during 
the whole year. 

Men. 

1 . Prostitution, adultery, bigamy, sodomy, incest, 312 

2. Robbery, 1,500 

3. Quarreling and wounding, - - - 2,129 

4. Quarreling, bearing arms, &c. - - 612 

5. Homicide, attempt at do., and robbery and homicide, 70 

6. Rape and incontinence, - - - - ^^ 

7. Forgery, - "7 

8. Gambling, 3 

Which, added together, give the frightful amount of - - 6,934 

males and females, for the higher crimes and misdemeanors — leaving a 
tjaiance of 1,927 only, to be divided among the lesser. It should be stated, 
in addition to the above, that numbers were committed for throwing vitriol 
on the clothes and faces of persons passing along the street j — that 113 
dead bodies were found; — 17 individuals executed* — and 894 sent to 
the hospital. 

The sum of $4,121 is expended in salaries of officers for this Institution, 
and $30,232 for the support of the prisoners. 



ACADEMY OF ARTS. 



Let us pass from this examination of vice and immorality in Mexico, 
to something more agreeable'. 

My expectations had been greatly excited by the Baron Humboldt's 
account of the Academy of Fine Arts ; but how greatly was I disap- 
pointed, in its comparatively miserable condition at present ! It has shared 
the fate of the University, Museum, Mineria, and other public institutions. 
The halls are untenanted. The multitudes, described by the Baron as 
attending the instruction of Professors, and sketching from the splendid 
collections of antique casts, — have departed. One artist occupies an ill- 
arranged studio in a dark corner of the buildings, and paints stiff figures 
of formal officers in gold lace, embroidery and crosses, in a style as dis- 
agreeable as his manners. 

* The mode of execution in Mexico, as in Spain, ifs by the garrote- The culprit is seated in a chair, and his 
neck is placed in an iron collar, which may be contracted by a screw. A sudden turn drives a spike through the 
ipinal marrow at the same time that the collar closes round the throat of the victim. Life is almost immediately 
extinct, and the sufferings are consequently but trifling. The crowds, to see those executions, in Mexico, are innu- 
merable. 

According to Humboldt, there were in 1790, in all the prisons of Mexico, 770 of both sexes, for all crimes, out 
af a population of about 113,000. 



272 MEXICO. 

It is to be hoped that with the " regeneration of the Republic," this 
branch of tasteful science will be properly encouraged, and the remark, 
ably acute and imilaiive talents of the natives subjected to a discipline, 
that cannot fail to rank. the Mexicans high in the grade of distinguished art. 

The old Spanish government supplied this Institution with a revenu* 
of near twenty-five thousand dollars a year ; and, at an expense of forty 
thousand dollars, safely transported to Mexico over the rough mountain 
roads and passes, a beautiful collection of casts of the most renowned sta- 
tues and groups of antiquity. These, I am glad to say, are altogether 
uninjured, and still adorn the lonely halls of the neglected Academy, 

I asked for the pictures of the former scholars, and a few were shown 
me, bad in coloring and worse in outline. I asked for the drawings; and 
the answer was, that there were none but a few sketches hung along 
the walls, bearing the date of long passed years. Among them, how- 
ever, I could not avoid noticing a drawing in ink by one of the pupils, 
which, had it been executed on copper, would have ranked him high in 
the list of the engravers of the period. 



PRIVATE CABINETS. 



The private collections of Mexico are not very numerous. Don Jose 
Gomez, ex-Conde de la Cortina, has a rare collection of offensive and 
defensive arms, ancient and modern, chronologically arranged. In addi- 
tion to this, he has gathered a number of interesting memorials of his own 
country, together with some original pictures, and copies of the most dis- 
tinguished artists of the Dutch, French, Flemish, Spanish and Italian 
schools. Among the painters are Murillo, Morales, Julio Romano, Paul 
Veronese, Salvator, Watteau, Mignard, David, and Laflond. 

PENASCO'S COLLECTION. 

The Museum of Don Jose Mariano Sanchez y Mora, ex-Conde del 
Peiiasco, is comprised in four branches :— Antiquities, natural history, 
paintings, and instruments of the physical sciences. His collection of 
coins is extremely valuable, consisung of upward of three thousand speci- 
mens ; and his mineralogical cabinet is unquestionably the rarest in the 
Republic. The ores — amethysts, emeralds, and diamonds, would, alone, 
almost make the fortune of an European collector. 

Don Jose was kind enough to permit me frequently to examine his 
Museum of Mexican Antiquities, and to present me with some rare and 
interesting idols. He possesses several Indian manuscripts in the ancient 
picture-writing, and a collection of dii penates, talismans, amulets, and 
musical instruments made of serpentine, basalt and clay. 



PRIVATE CABINETS, 



273 





The abeve cuts represent two stamps or seals of baked clay, with which 
the Indians were accustomed to impress marks upon their cottons. They 
go far to prove how near these people were to the discovery of the art of 
printing. 




18 



274 



MEXICO 



[n the National Museum and in the collection of the Conde, are several 
masks, made of obsidian, said to have been found in Indian tombs, cover, 
ing the faces of skeletons, the remains, perhaps, of some of the illustrious 
dead of the Empire. The one here represented was found in the Depart- 
ment of Chiapas. When you recollect the exceedingly frail and glass- 
like material out of which these things are cut, you cannot fail to be 
struck with the skill and ingenuity of the person who contrived to work it 
into the semblance of human features, without fracturing the mass, and 
gave to the whole a polish resemUing that of the finest mirrors. You will 
be the more surprised at this on looking at the following ring, 




also made of obsidian, and but one-tenth of an inch in thickness . It is 
perfectly transparent, beautifully wrought, and apparently so brittle and 
thin, that the slightest blow would fracture it. 





The above is also a mask, about a foot long, made, not of obsidian, but 
of serpentine. There are holes, as you perceive, in the upper part, 
which were doubtless used to suspend it before the face of some of the 
idols, according to one of the occasional rites of their worship. This 
mask is extremely interesting, because it is a perfect profile of the present 
race of Indians, who frequent the very spot at St. Jago de Tlaltelolco, 
where the relic was foui^d. 



MEXICAN IDOLS. 



275 





This is an idol found at Tula — the ancient capital of the Toltecs. The 
second figure represents the bottom of the statue, and the whole appears 
to have been a Toad or Frog — the croaking annoyer of some marshy 
neighborhood, who was raised to the dignity of a divinity in stone and 
propitiated by the offer of an occasional sacrifice. 

And so, perhaps, was the Grasshopper in the following figure, found in 
the Capital, cut out of red marble and beautifully polished. It is said t3 
be the god of Chapultepec — the " hill of the Cicala." 




276 MEXICO. 

The next is a Sacrificial Yoke, similar to the one described at page 121. 




The two following figures are those of Serpents, ten and nineteen inches 
in diameter— and carved from basalt. They were no doubt connected 
with the worship of the god Quetzalcoatl, which I have lieretofore de- 
scribed to you. 




MEXICAN IDOLS. 



277 





278 



MEXICO 





The preceding are four figures of unknown idols. One seems to rep 
resent a deformed Dwarf; another, a gaping Baboon; the third is ? 
monkey's or Idiot's head, cut out of white marble, found some years smc€ 
in the Misteca ; and the fourth is a mutilated body neatly carved m ser. 

^^BuTthe finest idol-specimen contained in the Conde's gallery, is the 
next that I have delineated. It was brought to him from Oajaca the an- 
cient country of Mitla and the Zapotecs-lying southwestwardly from the 
Vallev of Mexico-and is beautifully carved from a white sandstone, 
similar, I think, in material, to those found farther south by Mr. Stephens 



COMPARISON OF IDOLS. 



279 




You cannot fail to notice the tasteful arrangement of the head-dress, re- 
sembling those of our Indians as exhibited in the following designs, taken, 
for the sake of illustration, from the work of Mr. Catlin. 




280 



MEXICO. 



•In the first figure, you will observe feathers depending from the crest 
and back, similar to iliose on the sculptures of Xochicaico and Palenque; 
and, in the second, you will perceive that they are arranged in a circle 
of rays, so as to be, seen in front, as on the statue from Oajaca. Another 
thing is interesting in these figures of our Northern Indians. On the 
robe of the first Indian is an open hand. This, too, has been the subject 
of great speculation by recent writers. Mr. Stephens found it constantly 
in the temples he explored. It is in several places on the sides of the 
*• gladiatorial stone," at page 124 of these letters ; and Mr. Schoolcraft 
(unquestionably the best informed of our Indian scholars,) regards it as 
emblematic of strength, courage and power. 

The figure in the collection of the Conde del Peiiasco, is a deity con- 
nected with the Indian notions of fruition or plenty. The ears of corn in 
the head-dress indicate this idea, while the whole, perhaps, may be an idol 
of Centeotl, the "goddess of the Earth and Grain," or, (as she was more 
confidingly called,) " she who supports us." 



I had just finished sketching the idols represented in the preceding 
plates, when I was called to the window by the noise of a crowd below, 
gathered around a man lying on his back. I presumed it to be one of 
the numberless street-fights or quarrels with which you are daily an- 
noyed in this Capital, and was about retiring, when the fellow suddenly 
raised his legs in the air — balanced himself by his shoulders — and, pitch- 
ing up a pole horizontally, caught it on his feet. 




This, too, was a remnant of antiquity, and having sketched the exhib- 
itor alongside of an idol, I do not think him out of place in this letter. 

The ancient Mexicans had a variety of similar sports ; — such as bal- 
ancing on each other's shoulders ; on staves ; and on wheels whirling in 
the air ; but this exercise, with the pole or beam, was perhaps the most 



THE MOUNTEBANK. 



281 



common of all, and ordinarily practiced, in the streets, as a decent mode 
of begging. 

The operator is usually stripped to his trowsers, and his capital in 
trade consists of a pair of stout thighs and muscular calves. The pole 
once balanced on the soles of his feet, he plays all manner of tricks with 
it as easily as if it were in his hands ; but I have never seen them sport, 
as the ancients are said to have done, with men seated on each end of the 
heavy bar. 




AOAVE A.KSRICAKA. 



LETTER XXVII. 

DESAGUA. CARRIAGES. MULES. TROOPS. MUSIC. OPERA. RECRUITS. 
THEATRES. MEXICAN THIEVES. THE JUDGE AND TURKEY. 

Mexico, lying in the lap of a valley, with mountains around it contin- 
ually pouring their streams into the sandy soil, has been frequently in 
danger of returning to the " slime from whence she rose." Since the 
trees have been cut from the plains and the surface exposed to the direct 
action of the sun, the valley has become drier and the lake has shrunk ; 
but Mexico has, nevertheless, been several times threatened with inunda- 
tions. 

In estimating the dangerous situation of the Metropolis, it is necessary 
for you to recollect the position and levels of the adjacent lakes. South- 
eastwardly is the lake of Chalco ; northwestwardly the lake of Tezcoco ; 
and north of that again, in a continuous chain, are the lakes of San Cris- 
toval and Zumpango. The latter sheet of water is about eighteen feet 
higher than San Cristoval, — San Cristoval is twelve feet higher than Tez- 
coco, — and the level of the great Square of Mexico is not more than three 
feet above that of Tezcoco. Thus, the head of water which could be 
easily poured over the Capital is immense, especially as the river Cuautit- 
ian pours an additional stream constantly into the northern link of the 
chain at Zumpango. In 1629 the whole city of Mexico, with the ex- 
ception of the Plaza, was laid waste by inundation. In most of the streets 
the water continued for upward of three years, and, until 1634, portions 
of the town were still traversed by canoes. 

So great was the misery and want caused by this misfortune, that the 
Court of Spain had issued orders to abandon the Capital and build a new 
one, between Tacuba and Tacubaya, on upland levels, that had never 
been reached by the lakes before the conquest. An earthquake, how- 
ever, rent the earth and freed the city of the accumulated waters ; and 
the result of this warning was the completion of an immense Desagua or 
sewer, which thoroughly empties the oi'dinary contents of the valley. But 
urgent as was the necessity for this work, it was procrastinated by the 
dilatoriness of Mexican laborers, until the year 1789. " The whole length 
of the cut," is said by Mr. Ward, " to be, from the sluice called Vertide- 
ros, to the salto of the river Tula, 67,537 feet ; where the waters are 
discharged at a spot about 300 feet beneath the level of the lake of Zum- 




TEKMIKATIOir OF AS A d tT E D IT C T IW SIEXZOOi 



SPANISH AQUEDUCTS. 283 

pango." The estimate of the whole cost of this gigantic enterprise, and 
its necessary repairs, until the year 1830, is f 8,000,000 ; yet, with all 
the expenditure and vast labor, it may still prove, in certain cases, only 
efficacious against a portion of the waters that are collected in the val- 
ley. South of the Capital are the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco, and 
their level is more than a yard- higher than that of the great Square of 
Mexico. 

This Desague, and the noble aqueducts by which the city is supplied, 
are the only very great enterprises, of this character, in the country ; 
and they are all owing to the energy of the old Spanish government, 
which emulated the magnificence of the Romans in its public improve- 
ments, connected with elegance and comfort. ■ During the royal sway 
the roads, also, were properly made and repaired ; but since the Revo- 
lution, when most of them were torn up to prevent the passage of troops, 
or destroyed by the transit of artillery, they have been abandoned to 
the weather and travel, so that in fact, (with the exception of the high- 
way to Vera Cruz, which has recently been improved,) there is scarcely 
a road in the Republic that does not resemble more the deserted bed of 
a mountain stream, than a work intended to facilitate communication. 
The idea of " internal improvements" has never entered into the cal- 
culation of these people ; — though, some years since, a scheme was 
set on foot to construct a railway from the coast to the Capital, and its 
practicability proved by a scientific reconnoissance. Adventures of this 
character will be the first evidences of the growth of mind amono- the 
masses in Mexico, when they are taught to believe that they have other 
sources of wealth besides mines, and that riches do not consist alone in 
gold and silver. Until that period, the patient and toilsome mule will 
continue to be the means of transportation of the chief burdens from the 
sea to the interior. 

If we suppose it to be perfectly practicable to make a railway of about 
350 miles in length, with all its sinuosities, from Vera Cruz to the Cap- 
ital, I think the following estimate may be reasonably made of the profits 
of such an enterprise ; especially, when it is recollected that the distance 
will be passed in less than 24 hours, instead oi four days, (as at present in 
the diligence,) and from eighteen to twenty -five days, by mules and wagons. 

Cost of Railway, say, - . . . $6,000,000 

Motive power, cars, &c 200,000 

Contingent expenses, 300,000 



$6,500,000 



The interest on which, per annum, at 6 per cent, will be $390,000 

It may be estimated, that about fifty thousand tons are imported an- 
nually into Vera Cruz. A ton weight is transported usually on about 
seven mules, each mule load being worth $25, from Vera Cruz to Mexico. 



284 MEXICO. 

Fifty thousand tons will then cost for transportation $8,750,000. But 
suppose we take only the half, or twenty-five thousand tons to be trans- 
ported to the interior, and we shall have for the cost, $4,375,000, for 
the annual value of mule freight. 

I think it would be perfectly fair to consider this sum as the income of 
a railway, (at least, during the first years of the enterprise,) especially 
when the transportation of passengers and the speed with which merchants 
will be served with their goods, are taken into consideration as induce- 
ments. 

The statement of freights which I have made above, is only of carriage 
to the Capital ; an equal sum, nearly, may be expected to cover the trans- 
portation from it, including passengers, and pay for the portage of coin 
and bullion to the coast. But, if nothing more than $4,375,000, in all, 
are raised as income, you will perceive that the road must pay for itself 
in less than two years, or yield (after deducting expenses,) more than 
thirty per cent, to its shareholders. If the low cost of the railway is 
objected to, let the estimate be doubled, and still the profits will be pro- 
portionably great, if we take into account the extension of business that 
will be created by the increase of facilities. 

I think it may be safely stated, that two thousand passengers pass over 
the road every year between Vera Cruz and Mexico, each paying $50 
for his seat, or, $100,000 in all. How great would be the increase of 
travelling — the security of life and property from robbers — the induce- 
ments to trade — and the general promotion of the prosperity of the Re- 
public, by an outlay of money at so profitable an interest !* 

MEXICAN COACHES AND MULES. 

Not the least singular of the sights of the Metropolis, are the mules 
harnassed to the antique vehicles still used by some of the old-fashioned , 
folks of Mexico. The carriage is usually quite globular, or tun-like, 
with its doors and sides covered with elaborate gilding and painting. 
This clumsy cavity is suspended on a carved and gaudy-colored frame- 
work, or square scaffolding, resting on enormous wheels ; and the whole 
machine has the appearance of a big fly hanging in the midst of a 
spider-web. A long pole extends in front, to which are attached a pair 
of mules, almost hidden in a heavy harness studded with brass bosses and 
shining ornaments, while the tails of the luckless animals are invariably 
stuck into leathern bags by way of queue ! A postillion, with short jacket, 
of brown stamped leather, embroidered with green braid ; stout leggings, 

* Since the above was written, I learn that the Oovemnment has issued orders for the repair and improvement of 
roads all over the Republic. An enterprise has been actually set on foot by Mexican merchants of great wealth 
and respectability, to open a communication with the Pacific, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, partly by 
railway. 

The railway from Vera Cruzto the river San Juan, in the direction of Jalapa, has also been commenced, and 
laborers are already at work on four miles of the twenty-one of which it is to consist. 



TROOPSOFTHELIXE. 285 

spurs with two-inch rowels ; broad-brimmed hat, and whip of sounding 
thong, bestrides one of the beasts ; and the whole apparatus moves off 
with a slow lumbering pace, that resembles in motion and appearance 
nothing that I can now recollect, but one of those old-fashioned wooden 
houses, that, in times long past, we used to see removed from street to 
street, until they disappeared in the suburbs. 

Even the riding horses of the Mexicans are not yet freed from the an- 
cient lumber and trappings with which their ancestors covered them. At 
page 163, you will find a picture of a jMexican horseman, and observe 
that the animal's haunches are covered with a sort of hemisphere of leather 
terminated by an iron fringe, that jingles with every movement. This 
cumbrous hide was originally designed, at the period of the conquest, as 
an armor for the protection of the horse from Indian arrows, while the 
guard was continued in front of the beast by a similar apron that shielded 
his neck and throat. But now, although there are no more assailants of 
the peaceful riders, you may still frequently observe this uncouth cover- 
ing on the finest animals ; and the apology for the usage is, that bv contin- 
ually striking on a certain part of his hind legs with the lower fringe of 
iron, the horse is forced into a short, ambling trot, which is held to be the 
suvimum lonum of ]\Iexican comfort in the saddle. I confess, that I saw 
no beauty in the mincing gate which is thus acquired, especially as the 
animal most celebrated for it in i\Iexico scarcely advanced a dozen yards 
in a minute, while, from the amount of exercise he appeared to be taking, 
and the incessant pawing of his feet and chafing of his bit, an observer 
would be induced to believe he was advancing at a furious pace. It 
is one of those capricious luxuries to which men resort, when they have 
exhausted the round of natural and simple tastes. 

I have forgotten to say anything to you hitherto of the parades of troops, 
for which this Capital is in some degree famous. As I profess to have 
no military knowledge, you must not expect a very critical account of 
their appearance or manoeuvres ; but I have seldom seen better lookino- 
regiments in Europe than the 11th Infantry, under the command of Lom- 
bardini. The uniform is white, like the Austrian, and is kept in excel- 
lent order. The arms are clean and bright, and the ofiicers of division 
appear to be well trained, and to have imparted their training to the men. 
On the 13th of June 1842, about eight thousand of these troops were brought 
together, to be reviewed by General Santa Anna, on the meadows south 
of the city. In line they had an extremely martial bearing, and. so far 
as I was able to judge of their skill, the sham-fight that took place after- 
ward was admirably executed. Excellent and daring riders, as are all 
the Mexicans, they must ever have a decided advantage in their cavalry; 
and, although they do not present so splendid an appearance in equip, 
ments as some of the other regiments, I have no doubt they constitute 
the most effective arm of the Mexican service. Indeed, almost all the 
foreigners and even Texans, with whom I have spoken in regard to 



286 MEXICO. 

the qualities of these men, concur in a high estimate of the Mexican 
soldier, although they do not think so well of the Mexican officer. This, 
in all probability, arises from the irregular manner in which persons 
arrive at command and the want of soldierlike education and discipline.- 
Officers have been, most frequently, taken at once from private life or 
pursuits by no means warlike, and found themselves suddenly at the head 
of troops, without a knowledge of their duties, either in the barrack, camp, 
or field, or a due estimate of the virtues of obedience, and that disciplined 
courage arising from a perfect self-reliance in every emergency. The 
result of this unfortunate state of things has been, that, in conflicts with 
the Texans, while the men have often appeared anxious to fight, they lacked 
officers who were willing to lead them into the thick of the mil^e. 

You can fancy nothing more odd, than the manner in which this army 
is recruited. A number of men are perhaps wanted to complete a new 
company, and a sergeant with his guard is forthwith dispatched to inspect 
the neighboring Indians and Meztizos. The subaltern finds a dozen or 
more at work in the fields; and, without even the formality of a request, 
immediately picks his men and orders them into the ranks. If they at- 
tempt to escape or resist, they aje at once lassoed ; and, at nightfall, the 
whole gang is marched, tied in pairs, into the cuartel of the village or 
the guardroom of the Palace, with a long and lugubrious procession of 
wives and children, weeping and howling for the loss of their martial 
mates. Next day the " volunteers" are handed over to the drill-sergeant ; 
and I have often laughed most heartily at the singular group presented 
by these new-caught soldiers, on their first parade under their military 
tutor. One half of their number are always Indians, and the rest, most 
likely, leperos. One has a pair of trowsers, but no shirit ; another a shirt 
and a pair of drawers ; another hides himself, as well as he can, under his 
blanket and broad-brimmed hat ; another has drawers and a military cap. 
But the most ridiculous looking object 1 remember to have seen in Mexico, 
was a fat and greasy lepero, who had managed to possess himself of a 
pair of trowsers that just reached his hips, and were kept up by a strap 
around his loins, together with an old uniform coat a great deal too short 
lor him both in the sleeves and on the front. As he was not lucky 
enough to own a shirt, a vast continent of brown stomach lay shining in 
the sun between the unsociable garments ! He held his head, which was 
supported by a tall stock, higher than any man in the squad, and marched 
magnificently— especially in " lock step !" 

The drilling of these men is constant and severe. The sergeant is 
generally a well-trained soldier, and unsparing in the use of his long 
hard rod for the slightest symptom of neglect. In a few weeks, after the 
new troops acquire the ordinary routine of duty, they are put into uniform, 
paraded through the streets, and you would scarcely believe they ever had 



MUSIC, OPERA, THEATRES. 287 

been the coarse Indians, and scurvy leperos, who robbed you on the road 
or pilfered your pockets in the streets. 



Jt >vould be improper, in speaking of the Mexican military, not to notice, 
especially, their excellent bands of music. The Spaniards transplanted 
their love and taste for this beautiful science to Mexico. The Indians 
have caught the spirit from their task-masters ; — and whether it be in the 
tinkling guitar or the swelling harmonies of a united corps, you can scarce 
go wrong, in expecting an exhibition of the art from a native. It is the 
custom for one of the regimental bands to meet after sundown, under the 
windows of the Palace, in the Plaza, which is filled with an attentive 
crowd of eager listeners to the choicest airs of modern composers. 

I have said, that this musical taste pervades all classes ; and it was, 
therefore, to be hoped, that a regularly established Operatic corps would 
have readily succeeded in the Capital. But from a variety of causes the 
experiment failed. The Revolution of 1841, interfered with it at the out- 
set, in the months of August and September ; and, from the unfavorable 
location of the house, and other circumstances, the whole enterprise was 
visited with a series of disastrous losses that left the management, in July, 
1842, with a deficit of upward of 32,000 dollars. The singers were 
good ; the prima donna (Madame Castellan,) and basso, unexceptionable ; 
but the establishment never became fashionable. 

Not so, however, with the Theatres ; — three of which were almost con- 
stantly in operation while I resided in Mexico. The " Principal," the 
resort of the old aristocracy, was the theatre of staid fashion ; — the 
" Nuevo Mexico," a haunt of the newer people, who looked down on the 
" legitimate drama," and tolerated the excitement of innovation and nov- 
elty ; — and the " Puente Quebrada," a species of San Carlino, where 
" the people" revelled in the coarser jokes and broader scenes of an ad 
libitum performance. ^ 

I frequently visited the Principal, but kept a box with several young 
friends at the Nuevo Mexico, where I found the greatest advantage in 
the study of the Spanish language, from the excellent recitations of the 
" comicos." Most of them were Castillians, who spoke their native tongue 
with all the distinctive niceties of pronunciation, besides producing all 
the newest efforts of the Spanish muse. 

It was singular to observe, how from a small beginning and really 
excellent performances, the taste and wealth of Mexico was gradually 
drawn from its old loves at the Principal to the daring upstart. I have 
elsewhere lold you that the theatre is a Mexican necessary of life. It is 
the legitimate conclusion of a day, and all go to it ; — the old, because they 
have been accustomed to do so from their infancy ; the middle aged, be- 



288 MEXICO. 

cause they find it difficult to spend their time otherwise ; and the young 
for a thousand reasons which the young will most readily understand. 

The boxes are usually let by the month or year, and are, of course, 
the resort of families who fill them in full dress every evening, and use 
them as a receiving-room for the halitu^s of their houses ; although it is 
not so much the custom to visit in the theatre as in Italy. 

The pit is the paradise of bachelors. Its seats are arm-chairs, rented 
by the month, and of course never occupied but by their regular owners. 
The stage is large, and the scenery well painted; but the whole per- 
formance becomes rather a sort of mere repetition than acting, as the 
" comicos" invariably follow the words, uttered in quite a loud tone by 
a prompter, who sits in front beneath the stage with his head only 
partially concealed by a wooden hood. A constant reliance on this 
person, greatly impairs the dramatic effect, and makes the whole little 
better than bad reading ; but I was glad to perceive that the actors of 
Nuevo Mexico had evidently studied their parts, and really performed the 
characters of the best dramas of the Spanish school. 

I cannot but think this habitual domestication at the theatre, is injurious 
to the habits of the Mexicans. It makes their women live too much abroad, 
and cultivates a love of admiration. The dull, dawdling morning at home, 
is succeeded by an evening drive ; and that, again, by the customary seat 
at the Opera or Play-house, where they listen to repetitions of the same 
pieces, flirt with the same cavaliers, or play the graceful with their 
fans. If the entertainments were of a highly intellectual character, or 
a development of the loftier passions of the soul, (as in the master-pieces 
of our English school,) there would be some excuse for an indulgence 
of this national taste ; but the disposition of the audiences is chiefly 
directed, either toward comedy, or to a vapid melodrama in the most 
prurient style of the modern French. Love and murder, — crime and 
wickedness, — have converted the stage into a dramatic Newgate, where 
sentimental felons and beautiful females, whose morality is as question- 
able as the color of their cheeks, are made by turns to excite our wonder 
and disgust. 



MEXICAN ROGUERY. 

When giving you an account, the other day, of Mexican prisons and 
prisoners, I forgot to relate some anecdotes that are told in the Capital of 
the adroitness of native thievery. 

Some time since, an English gentleman was quietly sauntering along 
the Portales — the rnost crowded thoroughfare of Mexico — his attention 



IMPUDENT AND ADROIT THIEVES. 289 

being occupied with the variety of wares offered for sale by the small 
dealers ; — when, suddenly, he felt his hat gently lifted from his head. 
Before he could turn to seize the thief, the rascal was already a dozen 
yards distant, dodging through the crowd. 

Upon another occasion, a Mexican was stopped in broad daylight, in a 
lonely part of the town, by three men, who demanded his cloak. Of 
course, he very strongly objected to parting with so valuable an article ; 
when two of them placed themselves on either side of him, and the 
third, seizing the garment, immediately disappeared, leaving the victim 
in the grip of his companions. 

His cloak gone, he naturally imagined that the thieves had no further 
use for him, and attempted to depart. The vagabonds, however, told him 
to remain patiently where he was, and he would find the result more 
agreeable than he expected. 

In the course of fifteen minutes their accomplice returned, and politely 
bowing, handed the gentleman a. pawnbroker's ticket/ 

" We wanted thirty dollars, and not the cloak," said the villain; "here 
is a ticket, with which you may redeem it for that sum, and as the cloak 
of such a Cahallero is unquestionably worth at least a hundred dollars, 
you may consider yourself as having made seventy by the transaction ! 
Vaya con Dios .'" 

A third instance of prigging, is worthy the particular attention of the 
London swell mob ; and I question if it has been surpassed in adroitness, 
for some time past, in that notorious city, where boys are regularly taught 
the science of thieving, from the simple pilfer of a handkerchief, to the 
compound abstraction of a gold watch and guard-chain. 

A TALE OF A TURKEY. 

As a certain learned Judge in Mexico, some time since, walked one 
morning into Court, he thought he would examine whether he was in time 
for business; and, feeling for his repeater — found it was not in his pocket. 

"As usual," said |je to a friend who accompanied him, as he passed 
through the crowd near the door — "As usual, I have again left my 
watch at home under my pillow." 

He went on the bench and thought no more of it. The Court adjourned 
and he returned home. As soon as he was quietly seated in his parlor, 
he bethought him of his timepiece, and turning to his wife, requested her 
lo send for it to their chamber. 

" But, my dear Judge," said she, " I sent it to you three hours ago !" 

" Sent it to me, my love? Certainly not." 

" Unquestionably," replied the lady, " and by the person you sent for it!" 

" The person /sent for it !" echoed the Judge. 
19 



290 MEXICO. 

" Precisely, my dear, the very person you sent for it ! You had not 
left home more than an hour, when a well-dressed man knocked at the 
door and asked to see me. He brought one of the very finest turkies I 
ever saw, and said, that on your way to Court you met an Indian with 
a number of fowls, and having bought this one, quite a bargain, you had 
given him a couple of reals to bring it home ; with the request that I would 
have it killed, picked, and put to cool, as you intended to invite your 
brother judges to a dish of molU with you to-morrow. And, 'Oh ! by the 
way, Seriora,' said he, ' his Excellency, the Judge, requested me to ask 
you to give yourself the trouble to go to your chamber and take his watch 
from under the pillow, where he says he left it, as usual, this morning, 
and send it to him by me.' And, of course, mi querido, I did so." 

" You did ?" said the Judge. 

" Certainly," said the lady. 

" Well," replied his Honor, " all I can say to you, my dear, is, that 
you are as great a goose, as the bird is a turkey. You've been robbed, 
madam ; — the man was a thief; — I never sent for my watch ; — you've 
been imposed on ; — and, as a necessary consequence, the confounded watch 
is lost for ever !" 

The trick was a cunning one ; and after a laugh, and the restoration of 
the Judge's good-humor by a good meal, it was resolved actually to have 
the turkey for to-morrow's dinner, and his Honor's brothers of the bench 
to enjoy so dear a morsel. 

Accordingly, after the adjournment of Court next day, they all repaired 
to his dwelling, with appetites sharpened by the expectation of a rare 
repast. 

Scarcely had they entered the saJa and exchanged the ordinary salu- 
tations, when the lady broke forth with congratulations to his Honor upon 
the recovery of his stolen watch ! 

" How happy am I," exclaimed she, " that the villain was appre- 
hended !" 

" Apprehended !" said the Judge, with surprise. 

" Yes ; and doubtless convicted, too, by this time," said his wife. 

" You are always talking riddles," replied he. " Explain yourself, 
my dear. I know nothing of thief, watch, or conviction." 

" It can't be possible that I have been again deceived," quoth the lady, 
" but listen : — 

"About one o'clock to-day, a pale, and rather interesting young gen- 
tleman, dressed in a seedy suit of black, came to the house in great haste 
— almost out of breath. He said that he was just from Court ; — that he 
was one of the clerks ; — that the great villain who had the audacity 
to steal your Honor's watch had just been arrested ; — that the evidence 
was nearly perfect to convict him ; — and all that was required to complete 
it was 'the turkey,' which must be brought into Court, and for that he 
had been sent with a porter by your express orders." 

"And you gave it him !" 



IMPUDENT AND ADROIT THIEVES 



291 



"Of course I did — who could have doubted or resisted the order* 
of a Judge P' 

" Watch — and turkey— both gone ! pray, what the devil, madam, are 
we to do for a dinner ?" 

But the lady had taken care of her guests, notwithstanding her simpli- 
city, and the party enjoyed both the joke and their viands. 




19* 



LETTER XXVIII. 



MEXICAN CHARACTER. 



I HAVE adverted already in previous letters to the private character and 
domestic customs of the Mexicans, and confess, that I came to the coun- 
try with opinions anything but favorable to the morals, tastes, or habits 
of the people. It was alleged, that they entertained a positive antipathy 
to foreigners, and that the exclusive system of Spain, under which they 
were educated, had excited in them a distaste for innovation ; an insouciant 
contentment with the "statu quo;" and, in fact, had created in our New 
Worl'd a sort of China in miniature. 

I think it exceedingly reasonable, that the Mexicans should be shy of 
foreigners. They have been educated in the strict habits of the Catholic 
creed ,• they know no language but their own ; the customs of their coun- 
try are different from others ; the strangers who visit them are engaged 
in the eager contests of commercial strife ; and, besides being of differ- 
ent religion and language, they are chiefly from those northern nations, 
whose tastes and feelings have nothing kindred with the impul- 
sive dispositions of the ardent south. In addition to the selfish spirit of 
gain that pervades the intercourse of these visitors, and gives them no 
character of permanency or sympathy with the country, they have been 
accustomed to look down on the Mexicans with contempt for their obso- 
lete habits, without reflecting, that they were not justly censurable for 
traditional usages which they had no opportunity of improving by com- 
parison with the progress of civilization among other nations. 

Yet, treating these people with the frankness of a person accustomed 
to find himself at home wherever he goes, avoiding the egotism of na- 
tional prejudices, and meeting them in a spirit of benevolence ; I have 
found them kind, gentle, hospitable, intelligent, benevolent, and brave. 
Among their better classes, no people see more clearly than they do the 
vices of an ill-regulated society and the misery of their political condi- 
tion ; but, when rebuked in the presumptuous and austere spirit of arro- 
gant strangers, they repel the rudeness by distance and reserve. The 
consequence is, that these disturbers of social decency are seldom the 
chosen friends or inmates of their dwellings. The Mexicans are a proud 



MEXICAN CHARACTER. 293 

and sensitive people ; yet, none are more easily subdued by kindness — 
none more easily won by a ready disposition to mingle in their ranks, and 
treat them witH a due respect for their habitudes and their prejudices. 

There may be other reasons, too, why Mexicans have been jealously 
shy of strangers. It seems impossible for them to get rid of the idea, 
that European powers are seeking to obtain their wealth and territory, 
and to reestablish the systems from which they freed themselves by so 
many years of revolutionary war ; nor can they (since the Texan war,) 
ilivest themselves of the erroneous notion, that the United States has evei 
a longing eye on their Capital and country. 

There are but few entertainments given in Mexico, in comparison with 
those of other cities abroad, where a lavish expenditure in viands, lights, 
and amusements for the few hours of a single evening, are mistaken for 
the elegancies and refinements of genuine hospitality ; — instead, however, 
of these ostentatious displays, there are frequent reunions at teriuUas, 
^vhere an hour or two are most agreeably spent in friendly intercourse, 
and the unrestrained flow,of pleasant and instructive conversation. 

I have already alluded to the extreme of fashionable life, and its dispo- 
sition for the theatre ; and I do not intend to treat again of the propensity 
of the ultras to living thus constantly in the public eye, without devoting 
a portion of each day to that domestic intercourse and reunion which 
make the comfort and beauty of an English or American fireside. I 
speak, however, of that juste milieu of society, wherein resides the virtue 
and intellect of a country ; and I had an excellent opportunity of judging 
of the private life of this class during my stay in the Capital. 

It was my good fortune to reside for more than half a year in a native 
family, once rich and titled, but broken in fortunes by the political and 
commercial vicissitudes of the Republic, and it was there that I con- 
stantly witnessed the most beautiful evidences of a filial devotion and 
parental love, amounting almost to passionate attachment. The lady at 
the head of the establishment, (as I remarked in a preceding letter,) was 
a person who had been distinguished for her talents and accomplishments 
in the days when Mexico was adorned with the splendor of a Spanish 
court. She would have been considered highly cultivated in any coun- 
try ; her manners were excellent; her bearing graceful and courteous ; 
and a wide circulation in her youth among distinguished men, (both before 
and during the Revolution,) and a ready talent for imparting her recol- 
lections, made her conversation delightful and instructive. Besides this, 
she possessed a genius for miniature painting and sketching in crayons, 
rarely attained by a female, and worthy of a distinguished artist. Qual- 
ities, like these, brought around her constantly a large and intelligent cir- 
cle of both sexes. The change of fortune had by no means diminished 
her estimation in society, and the numbers of fast friends who adhered to 



294 MEXICO. 

her in her comparative indigence, proved their admiration of talent, and 
the constancy of attachment, by the repetition of the most delicate and 
disinterested assiduities. 

It was in this Mexican liome, and not . from the unsympathizing dis- 
tance of the hotel and ball-room, (the scene of most travellers' observa- 
tion,) that I obtained my insight into the structure of Mexican society and 
character. (Had I kept myself aloof in my own house or my own inn, 
as is the habit of foreigners, I should have judged from the theatre, the 
passeo, the bull-ring, the cock-pit, and the gaming-table ', that the women 
were but so many painted dolls, without more education or soul than was 
required to languish over a love-sick play, or to ogle, with idle gaze, 
a favored cavalier. I might have supposed, too, that the men were 
supremely blessed by this dalliance with the sex, and considered them- 
selves in perfect elysium when they could divide their attention be- 
tween their sirens, their horses, and the card-table ; — but in the privacy 
of this dwelling] I learned to estimate the love and regard between pa- 
rents and children ; the beautiful benevolence of ancient friendship ; the 
universal respect for genius ; and, besides, had frequent occasion to no- 
tice the expanding spirit, ardent patriotism, desire of cultivation, and quick 
talent, which embellish the Mexican character. 

fit must not be said that I am estimating a country by one example ; — I 
am as far from so partial a judgment, as the opponents of Mexico are 
from a just one on their side of the question. It is true, that this family 
afforded me an extensive field of observation, but it chiefly served to stim- 
ulate my attention and inquiries elsewhere J] and I can frankly declare, 
that wherever I observed, I invariably found the same qualities of head 
and heart. Ht is this heart that is in fact the great characteristic of Mex- 
icans, and especially of their females. There is a noble naturalness, an 
antique generosity about them, which is the parent of a multitude of vir- 
tues, and it is by an abandonment of themselves to impulses, that so much 
irregularity and indiscretion have been frequently manifested, both in 
politics and society. 

I have said that the Mexicans are a people of quick talent, and my re- 
mark is borne out by the observation of all foreigners. They are quick 
to apprehend, quick of study, and quick in mastering a subject ; but this 
very facility, joined with their impulsiveness, is often fatal to their en- 
during application and progress. 



I came among these people an entire stranger, without especial claims 
on their attention, and studious to avoid that bill of exchange hospitality, 
which is the result of introductory letters from former, and, perhaps, for- 
gotten acquaintances. Yet mingling freely among all classes, and com- 
paring them now — when gratitude for acts of kindness has been long 
yielded and the annoyance of petty impertinences forgotten — I have none 
but kindly recollections of the people, and none but favorable impressions 



MEXICAN CHARACTER. 295 

of the mass of a society, in which I had been taught to believe that I 
should be held in utter antipathy as a heretical stranger. 

There are, of course, in Mexico as in all other countries, specimens of 
egotism, selfishness, haughtiness, ill-breeding, and loose morals, both 
among the men and the women ; but, although we find these floating-like 
bubbles on the top of society, they must not therefore be considered the 
characteristics of the country. You must separate from the multitude the 
few who sometimes lead and control the masses that do not wish to come 
in contact or conflict with them. A nation in which " revolutions and coun- 
ter-revolutions are events of almost daily occui*rence, is naturally prolific 
in desperate and crafty political adventurers," and dissimulation and strat- 
agem may, in time, form the chief element of the character of such a 
people, — yet such, it is hoped, is not to be the corrupting fate of Mexico. 

The idea that large social entertainments require great magnificence 
and lavish expense, deprives the Mexicans, in their towns, of many of 
those agreeable gatherings which fill up so pleasantly our winter nig'hts 
and autumn evenings ; but it is on their haciendas or plantations,. that 
their hospitality is most distinguished. As you had occasion to remark 
in the account of my journey to the tierra caliente, nothing is withheld 
from you ; — their establishments are placed at your entire control," and 
the welcome is as sincere as it is hearty and cheerful. 

That they are brave, none will doubt who read the history of their War 
of Independence; although the bad discipline (especially of their officers,) 
has prevented the very eminent exhibition of this quality in their foreign 
battles. In fact, regard them in any way, and they will be found to pos- 
sess the elements of a fine people who want but peace and the stimu- 
lus of foreign emulation, to bring them forward among the nations of the 
earth with great distinction. 

Their geographical position, however, is very unfavorable for thig emu- 
lative stimulus. They are placed among the mountains, on an isthmus con- 
necting two large Continents, while their teri'itory is washed by two seas. 
They are cut off by a large belt of savage country from us at the north, 
and the communication with Europe is both distant and uncertain. They 
have a small population, spread over an immense territory, and want, 
therefore, both the constant comparison of the intellect of other nations, 
and social compacting or aggregation among themselves. I can (from 
personal experience,) state how disagreeable is this want of intercourse 
with the rest of the world. There is intelligence from the United States, 
perhaps, once a month, and about as often from Europe. The informa- 
tion brought by these arrivals, passes chiefly into the hands of the mer- 
chants, — and, after a while, is gradually translated in fragments for 
some of the meagre newspapers, which treat you, months afterward, to 
a refacciamento of the stories or improvements that you had already for- 
gotten. In this respect, our community of language with Great Britain is 



296 MEXICO. • 

of vast importance to us. England acts the part of an editor for the United 
States. She collects the news, the literature, the progressive inven- 
tions, and the genius of the old world, with unparalleled activity ; — 
and we are always, at farthest, but twelve days behind her in diffusing 
these results among the seventeen millions of our own people. But it 
may be feared, that it will be long before Mexico imitates our example. 
Spain is not an England, in intellectual energy or advancement ; and the 
day has not yet arrived in Mexico when a work in two volumes can be 
printed, bound, and distributed to her chief cities within twenty-four hours 
after its reception from Europe. 

I am afraid the tendency of our sister Republic is too much toward the 
opposite extreme. She has not disenthralled herself from the Spanish big- 
otry which inculcated the idea that a nation must do all for herself, without 
a commercial marine of her own to carry on a well-regulated commerce. 
This seems to me to be a churlish policy, and is as likely to make boors 
of the people who practice it, as seclusion is calculated to make ascetics 
of those whorefusetomingle with the world, and improve their spirits by 
a free interchange of opinions and feelings. It is well to live where you 
feel the beatings of the great pulse of society ; and it is time that man 
should remember he is not a mere machine, whose account with time is a 
balance-sheet between such productive manual powers as God has given 
him, and certain fearful columns of dollars and cents. 

In the summary I have endeavored to present you, of the Mexican 
character, I must not be charged with inconsistency by those who think I 
am contradicting what I have previously stated, either about supersti- 
tious customs, or the vices that consign so many to the prison, and make 
others so reckless of life and fortune. These are evils begotten by the 
times and want of resources. At present, I treat neither of political 
nor social gamblers ; neither of female frailties, nor that crafty duplicity 
which leads to high places in the state ; neither of genteel vagrancy, 
nor the outcast leperos and ignorant Indians who form so large a por- 
tion of the population of the country. All these are numerous enough 
and bad enough. But it has been my task — amid the desolation and ruin 
of the country — amid the dust and ashes to which a great nation has been 
reduced by civil war — to seek for some living embers, and to discover 
sufficient elements of a sound and healthful society, from which the re- 
generation of the country may be expected. With domestic virtue, 
genius, and patriotism, no people need despair; and it must be the prayer 
of every republican that enough of these still remain in Mexico to recon- 
struct their government and their society. 

I will not venture, however, upon any conjectures in regard to these 
matters, until I speak of the political prospects of the country. 



LETTERS 



ON THE 



TERRITORY, POPULATION, COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, 



ARMY, NAVY, REVENUES, CHURCH, MINES, 



COINAGE, EDUCATION, POLITICAL 



HISTORY, &c. &c. &c. 



OP 



MEXICO. 



LETTER XXIX. 

TERRITORY. POPTTLATION AND DEPARTMENTS. RATIO OF CASTES AND EDTT- 
CATION. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. PERIODICALS. 

According to the best authorities, the territory of the Mexican Republic 
contains an area of 1,650,000 square miles, and the United States of 
■America, 2,300,000. If we allow, as is calculated, that the square mile 
will maintain, under ordinary careful cultivation, a population of 200 per- 
sons, we shall have the sum of 330,000,000 for the total ultimate capa- 
bility of the Mexican soil, and 460,000,000 for the United States, — or, 
130,000,000 less in Mexico than in our Union. 

It may be well for us to continue this comparative statement somewhat 
further. In the year — 

1753 OUR Population was estimated at ... . 1,051,000 



1790 
1800 
1810 
1820 
1830 
1840 



3,929,827 
5,305,925 
7,239,814 
9,638,131 
12,854,880 
17,069,453 



I regret that there are not equally correct data for the statistics of popu- 
lation in Mexico. The census has been carelessly made at several peri- 
ods, and I will endeavor to present j'ou with what are deemed the most 
accurate estimates. 

In 1793, according to the report made to the King of Spain by the Conde 
de Revellagigedo, the population of New Spain, exclusive of the Intend- 
encies of Vera Cruz and Guadalaxara, was as follows : 

Indians ... 2,319,74] 

Europeans, ........ 7 904 

White Creoles, ......... 677 458 

Different castes, ....... 1,478,426 



4,483,529 



To which add the population of Vera Cruz and Guadalaxara, 

according to the estimate of 1803, . - . . 786,500 

Total population in 1793, . . - - . 5,270,029 



300 MEXICO. 

The Baron Humboldt estimates it to have been in the year 1803. 
5,837,100; and Mr. Poinsett, in 1824, (from the best data of the period,? 
6,500,000. 

In 1830, Mr. Burkhardt, an accurate German traveller, rates the sev- 
eral classes of Mexicans thus : 

Indians, - - 4,500,000 

Whites, 1,000,000 

Negroes, ... 6,000 

Mestizos, and other castes, - 2,490,000 

Total, 7,996,000 

Another estimate in 1839, reduces the sum to 7,065,000, and gives 
eight inhabitants to the square mile ; but the most complete, and, probably, 
the most accurate of the recent calculations, is the one which was made 
by the Government itself, (without special enumeration,) and served as 
a basis for the call of a Congress to form a new Constitution, under the 
plan of Tacubaya in 1842. 

Departments. Population 

Mexico 1,389,520 

Jalisco, 679,311 

Puebla, 661,902 

Yucatan, 580,948 

Guanajuato, ......... 512,606 

Oajaca, 500,278 

Michoacan, 497,906 

San Luis Potosi, 321,840 

Zacatecas, - - - - . . • .. 273,575 

Vera Cruz, 254,380 

Durango, . . .' 162,618 

Chihuahua, 147,600 

Sinaloa, 147,000 

Chiapas 141,206 

Souora, 124,000 

Queretazo, 120,560 

NuevoL6on, 101,108 

Tamaulipas, 100,068 

Coahuila, - - 75,340 

Aguas Calientes, - . - • . - . 69,698 

Tabasco, 63,580 

Nuevo Mexico, - - 57,026 

Californiae, • - . 33,439 

Total in 1842, .... 7,015,509 

Since the year 1830, the population of the Republic has been dread- 
fully ravaged by smallpox — measles and cholera. In the Capital alone, 
it is estimated that about 5000 died of the first named of these diseases, 
2000 of the second, and from 15,000 to 20,000, of the third. The mor- 
tality must have been in a corresponding ratio throughout the territory. 



POPULATION AND EDUCATION, 301 

I am, however, by no means satisfied that the estimates of both Poinsett 
and Burkhardt are not too high ; yet, assuming the statements of 1842 
and of 1793 to be nearly accurate, we find in 49 years an increase of 
only 1,774,111 in the entire population. Agam, if we assume the popu- 
lation to have been 6,000,000 in 1824, (the year, m fact, of the establish- 
ment of the Republic,) we find that in the course of 18 years of liberty 
and independence, the increase has not been greater than 1,044,140. 

In the United States of America, with only 650,000 more of square 
miles of territory now, and not so large a space at the achievement of our 
independence, the increase of our population during the first twenty years 
of freedom, cannot have been less than two millions and a half, while, in 
the course of the last thirty years, it has averaged an increase of rather 
more than 33 per cent, every ten. 

The several castes and classes of Mexicans may be rated in the follow- 
ing manner : 

Indians, 4,000,000 

Whites, • 1,000,000 

Negroes, . - - 6,000 

All other castes, such as Zambos, Mestizos, Mulattoes, &c., 2,009,509 



7,015,509 



It appears, therefore, that the Indian and Negroes amount to 4,006,000, 
and the whites, and all other castes, to 3,009,509. A very respectable 
and acred resident of Mexico, who is remarkable for the extent and accu- 
racy of his observations, estimates that of the former (or Negroes and In- 
dians,) but two per cent, can read and write, while of the latter, at a lib- 
eral estimate, but about 20 per cent. 

If we take this computation to be correct, as I believe from my own 
observation it is, — and using the estimate of the decree of 1842 for the 
basis of the population, we shall have : 

Of Indians and Negroes who can read, 80,120 

Of Whites and all others, - 607,628 



Total able to read and write out of a population of 7,000,000, 687,748 

This would appear to be a startling fact in a Republic the basis of whose 
safety is the capacity of the people for an intellectual self-government. 
Let us, however, carry this calculation a little further. If we suppose that 
out of the 1,000,000 of Whites, 500,000, or the half only, are males, 
and of that half million, but 20 per cent., oi but 100,000 can read and 
write ; we will no longer be surprised that a population of more than seven 
millions has been hitherto controlled by a handful of men, or that, with 
the small means of improvement afforded to the few who can read, the 



302 MEXICO. 

selfish natures of the superior classes, who wield the physical and Intel- 
lectual forces of the nation, have forced the masses to become little more 
than the slaves of those whose wit gives them the talent of control. 

In addition to this, you will observe how little has been done hitherto for 
the cause of learning by the Government, when you examine a table of 
the expenses of the nation, by which it will be seen, that in the year 
1840, while $180,000 were spent for hospitals, fortresses, and prisons, 
and $8,000,000 for the army, (without a foreign war) only $110,000 were 
given to all the institutions of learning in Mexico.* 

I learn, however, with pleasure, that under the new scheme of national 
regeneration which has recently been put in action, the subject of Education 
has engaged the especial attention of the existing powers, and that they 
design to foster it by every means in their power. 

In every one of the parishes into which the city is divided, there is estab- 
lished a school for boys, and another for girls, supported by the Ayunta- 
miento, or Town Council. In these establishments the pupils are taught; 
without charge, to read, write, and calculate, and are besides instructed 
in religious and political catechisms. In the schools for girls, in addition 
to these branches, they learn sewing and other occupations suitable 
for their sex. Books and stationery are furnished gratis. 

There is another establishment called the Normal School, supported by 
the Government, and devoted to the instruction of the soldiers of the army 
in the rudiments of learning. Advancement and improvement in this 
school are suitably rewarded by ranks in the army. Besides this, there 
is, also, a Lancasterian Company, which, commencing its labors in 
the Capital, is spreading its branches all over the country. It is devoted 
to primary instruction, and is protected by all the citizens of the Republic 
who are remarkable either for their wealth, education, or social posi- 
tion. The contribution is a dollar monthly. I am glad to learn that, 
since I left Mexico, the usefulness of this Company has been so apparent 
to the people, that schools upon its plan have not only been established in 
the principal cities and towns, but that they are now being founded in 
almost every village of importance, and even upon extensive haciendas or 
plantations, where the laboring population is numerous and ignorant. 

In the city of Mexico, this Company has formed a large number of 
schools for children of both sexes, upon the same footing as those estab- 
lished by the Ayuntamiento ; that is to say, the pupils are taught without 

* The CTnited States Census for 1840, gives the following results- 
Number of Universities and Colleges, 173 

" of Studentsin do 16,233 

Academies and Grammar Schools, 3,242 

Students in do 164,159 

Primary Common Schools, 47,209 

Scholars in do 1,845,244 

Scholars at public charge, 468,264 

Total number of whites in the United States 14,189,108 

Total number of whites in tlie United States over the age of 20 who cannot read and write, 519,693 



SCHOOLS AND SEMINARIES. 303 

charge, and are furnished with the requisite stationery and books. There 
is a Night School for adults, very fully attended by citizens, whose oc- 
cupation prevents them from devoting themselves to study during the day. 
In the women's and men's Prisons, and in the House of Correction for juve- 
nile delinquents, I also learn that schools have been formed ; and it is by 
no means a cheerless feature in this picture of dawning improvement, 
that the ladies of Mexico, most distinguished by talent, wealth, and culti- 
vation, have gladly availed themselves of the opportunity to devote a 
portion of their time for the purpose of instructing their unfortunate sisters 
in the prisons. 

Besides these establishments, (which you will observe, are all of a free 
and public character,) it is difficult to give any idea of the number of pri- 
vate schools for both sexes in the Capital and Departments. Many of them 
are conducted by foreigners as well as Mexicans, and although they gen- 
erally instruct in French, English, grammar, reading, writing, arithmetic, 
geography, the rudiments of history, book-keeping, drawing, and music, I 
have reason to believe that none of them are remarkable for the regu- 
larity or perfection of their system. 

In the city of Mexico, there are the collegiate establishments of El 
Seminario Conciliar, San Ildefonso, San Gregorioy and San Juan Lateran. 
The fu'st of these is under the immediate supervision of the Archbishop, 
and supported by a portion of the ecclesiastical revenues. The other 
three are under the care of the Government. In almost all the Depart- 
ments of the Republic, there are collegiate Institutes, and in some, even 
two or three. 

The course of instruction in these establishments is alleged to be thor- 
ough and modern. The students who live within the walls, are expected 
to contribute for their education, while others, who only attend the lec- 
tures of the Professors, are exempt from all costs and charges, so that 
about two-thirds of the pupils of every College receive their literary edu- 
cation gratuitously. 

If peace be now permitted to reestablish her beneficial sway over the 
country, and men's minds are allowed, in the general calm, to direct 
themselves to their own and their children's culture, these institutions 
cannot fail to afford the most rational hope to the well-wisher of Mex- 
ican prosperity and happiness. The regeneration of Mexico lies in her 
schools. Without their success she must not expect to drive Jiperos 
from the streets, or usurping Dictators from the Palace of her ancient 
Kings. 

As an interesting Table connected with the diffusion of information, I 
insert, in conclusion, the following statement of the number of newspa- 
pars and periodicals published in the Republic : 



304 MEXICO. 

In Chihuahua, .1 

Coahuila, .......... .1 

Chiapas, -- . . - - . . . . 1 

Colima, ...........1 

Durango, -...--..•..2 

Guauajuato, ...........2 

Guadalaxara, ..........2 

Aguascalientes, -•........! 

Lagos, ...........1 

Mexico, .... ..».-. .6 

Morelia, .....2 

Monterey de N. Leon, .........2 

Matamoras, --..,.....2 

Oaxaca, . . . . . . . . - .'.2 

Puebla, .... 2 

Queretaro, ...........1 

Tobasco, ...........1 

Sonora, ...........l 

Snialoa, ........... 1 

Tampico, ...........2 

Ciudad Victoria, ..... ...1 

Jalapa, ...........1 

Vera Cruz, ..........2 

Yucatan, ...........2 

Zacatecas, ..........2 

San Luis Potosi, ..........2 

Total, 44 

Note.— I subjoin, for the sake of comparison, the following statistics of the printing in the United States, 
according to the Census of I&IO : 

Number of Printing Offices, 1,552 

" Binderies, i 447 

" Daily Papers, 138 

Weekly " , 1,141 

" Serai and Tri-WeeKly 125 

" Periodicals 227 

" Men employed, 11,523 

Amount of capital employed , ^,S73,815 



LETTER XXX. 



COMMEECE A^-D aiANTJFACTUEES OF JIEXICO. 



The Commerce of Mexico has been sensibly diminishing for the last ten 
years. This is attributable to the continual revolutionary disturbances 
of the country, the decrease of the wealth of the people, and the pecu- 
niary embarrassments to which most of the inhabitants have been sub- 
jected, by the non-payment of Government loans and unfortunate invest- 
ments. 

In 1832 and 1833, the products of the Custom House amounted to about 
twelve millions per annum. In 1839, on account of the French blockade, 
they fell to near three millions ; in 1840, they rose again to seven millions ; 
and, in the following year, fell to little more than Jive, which sum may 
be divided among the different ports as follows, to wit : 

Vera Cruz, $3,329,802 

Tampico, 883,039 

Matamoras, 312,403 

Marattan - . . 383,159 

Guyamas, ....... 55,814 

Monterrey, 96,853 

Acapulco, ------ 17,182 

San Bias, - - - -■ - - - 208,845 



$5,287,097 



This corresponds to about twelve millions three hundred thousand dol- 
lars of importation annually, divided (according to an estimate,) in the fo; . 
lowing manner : 

From England, $4,500,000 

" France, 3,000,000 

" Hamburgh, 1,500,000 

" China, 1,000,000 

« United States, 800,000 

" Spain, 500,000 

" Genoa, and other ports, . - - - 1,000,000 

$12,300,000 
20 



806 MEXICO. 

The expense to the Government, for the collection of this revenue, 
was $348,290. 

The Exports from the Republic, (chiefly of course of its own pro- 
ductions,) may be rated at : 

;! f Specie, through Vera Cruz, $4,000,000 

g^J " " Mazatlan and San Bias, - - - 2,500,000 

Is 1 Silver and Gold, through other ports, .... 5,000,000 

I (.Silver, through Tampico, 7,000,000 

Cochineal, Jalap, Vanilla, Sarsaparilla and Hides, - - 1,000,000 

Sundries, 500,000 

$20,000,000 

From this estimate, you perceive, that about $18,500,000, in the precious 
metals, are exported annually from Mexico. The mines produce near 
twenty-two millions of silver, of which, it is calculated, that twelve mill- 
ions are coined in the seven mints of the Republic, per annum. 

From the above calculations, it will be observed, that there is a differ, 
ence of about $8,000,000 between the imports and exports, a large portion 
of which is estimated to be covered by smuggling. 

The following comparative estimate of the Exports and Imports of the 
United States and of Mexico, for the years 1841 and 1842, cannot fail to be 
interesting in this connection, especiaUy when you take into consideration 
the comparative extent of territory and population : 

Exports from Mexico, in 1842, - $20,000,000 

Of which, in gold and silver, - - - - - - 18,500,000 ' 

Balance in other products of industry, .... - $1,500,000 

Excess of Imports over the industrial Exports, exclusive of the 

precious metals, -- $10,500,000 

Imports of the United States in 1841-2, .... $99,357,329 

Exports from « " " - - - - - 104,117,969 

Difference, $4,760,640 

Exports of Gold and Silver, « ...... $9,805,235 

Of which was the produce of U. S. Mines, - $2,746,486 

■ « « foreign Gold, .... 677,297 

" . " foreign Silver, - - - - 6,381,452 

Total, $9,805,235 
Whole exports from the United States, .... $104,117,961* 
Deduct exports of the Precious Metals, - - . - 9,805,235 

$94,312,734 



COMMERCE. 307 

Or, in other words, the United States exported $94,312,734 worth, repre- 
senting her industry, (exclusive of gold and silver,) while Mexico, with a 
territory nearly as large, exported but $1,500,000. In addition to this, 
it must be recollected, that but $2,746,846 of the precious metals were 
the product of our own country, while at least $15,000,000 were the 
product of the Mexican mines ; leaving an excess of nearly three millions 
above the total annual coinage of the nation. 

Whole Exports, for say 8,000,000 people, $20,000,000 

" " « 17,000,000 « . . . . . . 104,117,969 

This will give us the ratio of about $6 12J for each person in the United 
States, and $2 50 for each person in Mexico. 

In order to afford some idea of Mexican commerce more in detail, 
(so far as the Eastern Coast is concerned,) I have constructed the 
following Table, the accuracy of which may be confidently relied on. 
In regard to the Western Coast, it is impossible to state anything with 
certainty. The chief contraband trade of the Republic has been carried 
on there with the most unblushing audacity, until very recently ; and, of 
course, statistical returns will tend rather to deceive than enlighten. 

COMMERCE OF THE PORT OF VERA CRUZ. 



ONE TEAR. . SIS MONTHS. 

Prom 1st January to 3Ist December, 1841. From 1st January, 1842, to 1st July. 





Entries. 


Departures. 


Entries. 


Departures. 


American, 


39 


37 


19 


19 


English, 


45 


42 


26 


21 


French, 


31 


33 


13 


17 


Spanish, 


36 


35 


12 


15 


Hamburgh, 


5 


5 


3 


4 


Danish, 


5 


4 


1 


1 


Belgian, 


3 


3 


1 





Bremen. 


4 


4 


1 


1 


Prussian, 


2 


2 


2 





Sardinian, 


4 


5 


3 


2 


Colombian, 


5 


5 


2 


3 


Mexican, 


37 


43 


20 


26 




216 


218 


102 


109 


Passengers in 1841, 


- S • M 


- 1,109 




Immigrants, - 


. 


459 




Increase 


of populati 


on, - - - 


. 614 





20* 



308 



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310 MEXICO. 

TEADE WITH MATAMORAS 1841. 

The whole trade of 1841 was carried on in vessels from the United States : 
Vessels 32 Tonnage 2,345 

EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES. 

Specie $352,766^ 

Hides 117,334 

Wool 15,943 

Horses and mules .... - 800 

486,834^^ 

IMPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



Countries 

where 

manufactured. 


Silks. 


Woollens. 


Cottons. 


Linens. 


Ironware 
and Ma- 
chinery. 


Paper. 


Jew- 
elry. 


Sundries. 


Total. 


Germany 

England 

Spain 

U. States 

France 

Havana 


$1,040 
2,340 


$25,046 
4,148 


$2,051 
146,280 

25,640 
31,480 


$40,947 
23,768 

6,597 


$3,921 

15,120 
270 


$1,680 


$452 


$246 
3,140 
8,060 

66,140 
5,334 

13,245 


$43,244 

203.195 

8,060 

106,900 

52,301 

13,245 


Tot.Values. 


$3,380 


29,194 


205,451 


71,312 


19,311 


1,680 


452 


96,165 


426,945 



It may be well for us to take heed of the gradual decline of our com- 
merce with Mexico, which has diminished to almost utter insignificance. 
I am not merchant enough to divine what are the commercial causes of 
this state of things ; but I can readily imagine, that, in connection with 
the general difficulties of the country, our trade has been seriously 
affected by the part which pur citizens have taken, or are alleged to have 
taken, in the insurrectionary movements of Texas. The rebellion in that 
province, the union of a portion of North Americans with its armies, and 
the sympathy of many others, expressed in a manner which I believe to 
be both unwise and illegal, have caused our people to be unpopular 
throughout the Republic, and have made the authorities averse to exhibit- 
ing that strict justice in our personal and commercial rights which should 
characterize the intercourse of friendly nations. Our citizens have 
been imprisoned in Mexico on frivolous pretences. Forced loans have 
been wrested from our merchants. Tribunals have been deaf to demands 
for restitution, and a mutual distrust has arisen, which has proved fatal 
in many instances to trade and intercourse. The effects of this will, 
however, be most strikingly exhibited in the following table, compiled 
chiefly from the reports of the Secretary of our National Treasury. 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 
For the year ending 30th September, 1823, the imports and exports to Mexico and 
South America generally, were as follows : 

.mports $4,842,503 

Exports . - . - - - 3,229,343 

$1,613,160 balance in our favor. 

Of these imports $1,950,416 were in specie and bulhon. 



STATISTICS OF TRADE. gn 

TRADE WITH MEXICO FOR TWELVE YEARS. 

Imports from Mexico. Exports to Mexico. 

Year ending 30th Sept. 1829 - $5,026,761 . . $2,331,151 
1830 . . 5,235,241 . . 4,837,458 

*• " 1832 . 4,293,954 . . 3,467,541 

" " 1833 . . 5,452,818 . . 5,408,091 

" " 1834 - 8,066,068 - . 5,265,053 

" " 1835 . . 9,490,446 . . 9,029,221 

1836 . 5,615,819 . . 6,041,635 

1837 - . 5,654,002 . . 3,880,323 
" " 1838 . 3,127,153 . . 2,787,362 
" " 1839 - . 3,500,707 . . 2,164,097 
" " 1840 . 4,175,001 . . 2,515,341 

1841 - . 3,284,957 . . 2,036,620 



GOLD AND SILVER IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM MEXICO. 

Bullion. Specie. 

S.America ?indMexico in 1823 - f 121,970 . . $1,828,446 
From Mexico 1836 - . 68,546 . . 4,468,872 

1837 - 165,429 . . 4,405,549 

1838 - . 230,183 . . 2,459,243 

1840 . 100,976 . . 3,357,936 

1841 . . 51,184 . . 1,886,918 

By this you will observe, that, from having a trade worth upward of 
$9,000,000 in 1835, we have been reduced to a comparatively insignifi- 
cant commerce of $1,000,000, at the extreme, in 1843 ! If peace be 
restored in Mexico and mutual confidence reestablished, I can see no 
cause why our interests may not become replaced on their ancient basis, 
and a natural alliance firmly established between two sister Republics, 
who, in addition to a community of political tendencies, are the closest 
neighbors. 

England has striven for a two-fold object in Mexico. She has always 
looked to her debt from that country as the great means of affecting her 
commerce and manufactures, and ultimately, perhaps, of affording her a 
claim for its satisfaction in territory.* If our Government was always 
careful to have herself properly represented in that Republic by vigilant 
persons, whose eyes were constantly open to the encroachments of foreign 
Powers, and especially to the grasping tendencies of England ; and if, at 
the same time, it took occasion upon every fitting opportunity, to sustain 
the rights of our citizens by enforcing the reasonable and friendly ap- 
peals of its Representative ; I doubt not that, in a few years, Mexico 
would awake from the spell of her foreign delusions, and remember the 
hand that was first stretched forth to welcome her into the family of inde- 
pendent nations. She would have every reason to do so. The political 
feelings of the mass of her intelligent men are decidedly republican. 
Her own independence would be assured to her. The constant alliance 

* Vide appendix, No. 1, 



312 



MEXICO. 



of the United States would protect her in the event of a hostile foot being 
set upon her shores. She would secure the integrity of this Continent, 
and free her people from the dangers that menace them from abroad, 
whenever a minister is obliged to dun her for her debts, or threaten her with 
the " last argument " known to diplomats and nations.* 

A favorite mode of raising loans in Mexico, for the benefit of the Gov- 
ernment, has been that of granting permits to merchants (chiefly English- 
men,) to introduce cotton twist into the Republic. This is a prohibited 
article ; — prohibited for the purpose of cherishing the manufacturing es- 
tablishments of the country. That these have progressed to a veiy con- 
siderable extent, and have entirely outstripped the production of the cotton 
planters of Mexico, will be seen by the annexed Table, which I have 
obtained from the most authentic sources. 

STATISTICS OF MEXICAN BIANUFACTURES. 



No. of Factories in eacli Department. 


Spindles 
established. 


Spindles 
In erection. 


Total. 


In Mexico, 
" Puebla, . 
" Vera Cruz, . 
" Guadalaxara, - 
" Queretaro, - 
" Durango, - 
" Guanajuato, 
" Sonora. - 


12 
21 

7 
5 
2 
4 
1 
1 


30,156 

35,672 

17,860 

11,312 

7,620 

2,520 

. 1,200 

1,000 


12,240 
5,200 
6,500 


30,156 

47,912 

23,060 

17,812 

7,620 

2,520 

1,200 

1,000 


53 


107,340 


23,940 


131,280 



* I did not design alluding, in this work, to the Texans or to the Santa Fe expedition ; but I cannot let this oc- 
casion pass without bearing testimony to the kind hearts and generous disposition of the Mexicans, m regard to 
tiie prisoners of that ill-starred adventure. It is true, that several persons connected with it were travellers and 
merchants only, utterly ignorant of the purposes of the rest ; but I believe there is now no doubt that the great 
body of the troops entertained the idea of revolutionizing the department of New l\Iexico. Yet these men were 
neither court-mai-shalled nor executed. They were forced to undergo a long and fatiguing march to the Capi 
(til, and some of them were, in Mexico, Puebla and Perote, chained and treated witli indignity by the oiBcers 
of the Government. But I have heard tliem all speak in terms of the most heartfelt gratitude of the continual 
sympathy expressed for them by the citizens. The Mexicans visited them ; sent them food and raiment ; inter- 
ceded for them, and used every effort to mitigate their sufferings. The officers were allowed many privileges by 
their keepers, and, finally, the whole of tliem were released, after having sworn not to take up arms against 
Mexico. Notwithstanding this oath, several of them had scarcely landed in Texas before they were again in hostile 
array against the Government that freed them, and although some were once more seized upon the Mexican terri- 
tory, I learn that their lives have been spared, and that they will probably be again released. 

I must be permitted, in this note, to mention the brave Colonel Cooke, (a native of Virginia, who commanded 
a division of the expedition,) as one of those rare heroes, whose chivalry reminds us of the days of romance. At 
the battle of San Jacinto, it is said, that he saved the life of Santa Anna by interposing himself between the infu- 
riated troop? and the captured General, when he was brought into Houston's camp. I have been told that Santa 
Anna remembered his name, as soon as he learned that a pei-son called Cooke was in the Santa Fe expedition, 
and resolved to release him if he proved to be his preserver. On Cooke's arrival at Mexico, the President sent for 
and questioned him closely as to the facts, but Cooke steadily denied his identity. W^hen reproved by his friends, 
he exclaimed, that he would avail himself of no such advantage gained merely by honorable war, and that he 
had resolved to share the fate of his companions, be it what it might. Together they had been captured, together 
they would undergo thesuflerings of imprisonment, and together they would be released, or die. He kept his 
promise till the last, and on the 13th of June, 1842, marched at the head of his little band to the review at which 
Santa Anna, in person, released them. 



MANUFACTURES. 313 

It must be remarked, that there are three manufacturing establishments 
in the Department of Durango, the number of spindles in which, are not 
included in the preceding Table, because the Junta de Industria had not re- 
ceived very definite information respecting them. They may, however, 
be calculated at about 4000, which, added to the 131,280, will give a 
grand total of 135,000, at least. The number of looms, also, in the Re- 
public is not presented, because data have been furnished only in relation 
to those moved by machinery. An immense number of hand-loorns are 
in constant occupation throughout the Republic. 

!• Lbs. Dollars. 

The Cotton Factories of the Republic consume, daily, 

with the 107,340 spindles, in actual operation, . . 39,755 
Which produce in spun thread, at the rate of J of a lb. for 

each spindle, 35,780 

Which, converted into mantas and rebosos, have a value of 39,358 

II. 

The same factories, after the 23,940 spindles in erection 

are in operation, will consume daily, ... 48,622 

Each spindle will produce of thread, .... 43,760 

Which converted as aforesaid, will amount in value to - 48,037 

III. 
The consumption of cotton, in the year, of 300 working 

days, with 131,280 spindles, will be ... . 14,586,666 

The produce in thread, 13,138,000 

The produce in manufactured value, as above, ... 14,440,800 

IV. 
The 131,280 spindles, working day and night, will con. 

sume, 24,797,332 

Produce in thread, . . . . . . . 22,317,600 

Produce in manufactured value, as above, ... 24,549,360 

V. 
The 131,280 spindles will occupy (working only by day,) 8,753 boms. 

" " " (working day and night,) 14,880 " 

No. of Operatives employed by day, .... 17,000 

" " " day and night, . . . 29,000 

VI. 

It will require for the 131,280 spindles working ly day, . 145,666f quin. cotton. 

The produce of the country, at the utmost, is not more than 50,000 

Leaving a deficit of 95,666f 

*But if the spindles work day and night, they will require, 247,973^ 

Produce of the country, as above, ... . 50,000 

Leaving a deficit of 197,973^ quintals. 

* At the town of Lowell, alone, they make nearly a million and a quarter yards of cotton cloth per week, 
employ about 9000 operatives (6375 females) and use 433,000 lbs. of raw cotton per week. The annual amount 
of raw cotton used is 22,568,000 lbs. ; enough to load 50 ships of 350 tuns each ; and of cotton manufactured. 
70.275,910 yards— 100 lbs. of cotton will produce S) yards of cloth. 



314 MEXICO. 

The value of the Mexican manufacturing establishments may be stated, 
in round numbers, at $10,000,000. 

Hitherto the cotton crop of the Republic has not greatly exceeded 50,000 
quintals ; which, calculated at a mean of $35 the quintal, will give a total 
valuation of the produce at $1,750,000. The estimate I have presented 
in the foregoing tables shows, however, that the spindles, working day and 
night, will require 247,937^ quintals, or, in other words, that there is a 
deficit of 197,973^, which, valued at the same rate, will amount to 
$6,929,072. 

It is true, that many persons have been induced by this condition of the 
market, and the prohibition of importing the raw material, to commence 
plantations of cotton ; but I greatly doubt whether the habits of the agri- 
cultural population will permit their prosperity. They dislike to adventure 
in new branches of industry. If their ancestors wrought on cotton plan- 
tations, they are content to continue in the same employment ; but it will 
be difficult to train the new laborer to the newer cultivation. They ad- 
here too closely to traditional occupations, and I have heard of some most 
signal failures, which have forced persons to abandon their establish- 
ments, after a considerable outlay of money in land and implements. 

Under these circumstances, we may well ask our countrymen whether 
Mexico might not be looked to as a market for a portion of our crops, and 
if the Government should not be requix'ed to turn its attention to this vast 
interest, for the purpose of attempting to obtain a removal of the inhibi- 
tions on that valuable article of commerce. If England were a cotton 
growing country, or had an adjacent colony producing it, I am confident 
that the opportunity would be promptly and advantageously improved. 
Under any circumstances it is worth the trial ; and, especially, at this 
moment, when Great Britain is interfering in the quarrel between IMexico 
and Texas, and seeking either to produce a peace or to form an alliance 
with the revolted province, which will either extinguish slavery and cotton 
planting, or make Mexico the buyer of her offspring's productions, to the 
detriment of our Union. 

The cotton crop of Mexico has been very variable in value. At Tepio, 
on the west coast, it has been as low as $15 the quintal ; at Vera Cruz, 
on the east coast, $22 and $34 ; while at Puebla and in the Capital, it has 
risen to $40, and even $48. 

In spite of all the efforts of English capitalists and diplomacy, the Gov- 
ernment has steadily persevered in fostering the manufactures of the Re- 
public, except by the occasional allowances of the importation of twist. 
The administration of Santa Anna, however, has been energetic I am 
informed, both in its opposition to the introduction of this article, and in 
its effects to suppress the smuggling of English and American fabrics. 
The manufacturers, therefore, regard their establishments as perfectly 
safe, and their future success as certain. 



MANUFACTURES. 315 

The average price o^7nantas, (cotton cloth) of one vara width, in 1842, 
was about twenty-five cents the vara; and of twist, No. 12 to 22, about 
seventy-five cents the pound. It was estimated, that if cotton fell in con- 
sequence of importations being allowed, or a larger crop, to $25 the quintal, 
these articles would be reduced to 18f cents the vara for the first, and to 
■ 50 cents the pound for the second. This condition of the market would 
prevent all importations from abroad, even aided by smuggling. 

An intelligent merchant of the city of Mexico, who has resided long in 
the country, and has an extensive acquaintance in the Republic, informs 
me, that there are about five thousand hand -looms throughout the Depart- 
ments, which will work up all the spun yarn into mantas and reiosos as 
fast as it can be made. Many of these looms are entirely employed in 
the manufacture of the common rebosos — described in some of my pre- 
ceding letters — the consumption of which is. so great among the poorer 
classes. The value of these looms is estimated at between six and seven 
hundred thousand dollars. The number of persons employed, in every 
way, in manufactures, cannot be much short of thirty thousand. 

The power made use of for the movement of the factories is water ; 
which is abundant, for that purpose, all over the country, proceeding from 
small streams falling from the mountains into the neighboring plains or 
barrancas. Owing to the scarcity of wood, and the costliness of its 
transportation, steam cannot be advantageously applied. 

There are several manufactories of cotton balls, or thread, in Mexico, 
but they are not of very great importance. 

Paper factories are working with considerable success. Thei'e are 
two near the Capital, one at Puebla, and one in Guadalaxara. Their 
productions are very good, but by no means adequate to the consumption 
of the country. The quantity of this article used for cigarritos, or paper 
cigars, is inconceivable. The best coarse wrapping or envelope paper, I 
have ever seen, is made in Mexico from the leaves of the Agave Ameri- 
cana, the plant which yields " pulque." It has almost the toughness and 
tenacity of iron. 

Both at Puebla and Mexico there are several glass factories, making 
large quantities of the material for windows, and common tumblers. 
Their produce is, nevertheless, insufficient for the wants of the country. 

Woollen blankets, and some very coarse woollen cloths or haizes, are 
also manufactured in the Republic. The blankets, or serapes, I have 
heretofore described when speaking of the equipment of a Mexican horse- 
man. They are often of beautiful texture, and woven, with the gayest 
colors and patterns, into a garment that frequently costs a fashionable 
cavalier from two to five hundred dollars. As this is as indispensable an 
article for the comfort of a lepero as of a gentleman, and as necessary 
for a man as a reboso is for a woman, you may readily imagine how great 
is the consumption. 



819 MEXICO. 

Such is a sketch of this branch of industry, to which the Government 
and people seem to have devoted themselves whh a hearty will. I have 
dwelt at considerable length upon it, as evincing an energy and temper 
not usually attributed to Mexicans, and for tne purpose of exhibitmg a 
phase of character at once creditable to their resolution, and manifesimg 
* degree of independence and thriftiness worthy of imitation. 



LETTER XXXI. 

THE REVENUE AND RESOTJKCES OF MEXICO. ARMY. NAVT. PRODUCE OF 
MINES. TOTAL COINAGE. THE CHURCH, ITS WEALTH AND INFLUENCE. 

The income of the Mexican Government is derived from revenues 
on foreign commerce, imposts on internal trade, imposts on pulque, ex- 
port duty on the precious metals, lotteries, post-office, stamped paper, 
taxes, tobacco, powder, salt-works, and several other sources of trifling 
importance. 

In 1840, these revenues are stated in the Report of the Minister of the 
Treasury as follows: 



Nett proceeds after deducting expense of collection. 

Imposts on Foreign Commerce, $7,115,849 

" Interior " ...... 4,306,585 

" On property, income, &c. - . . . . 466,061 

Exchanges, &c. . ...... 307,427 

Creditos Activ6s, .. . .... . 3,309 

Balances of accounts, ........ 355 

Enteros de productos liquidos, ...... 452,146 

Extraordinary subsidy, . . . . . . .. 103 

Arbitrio estraordinario, . ...... 78,177 

Capitacion, . . ....... 483 

Donations, . .-.--.. 13,662 

$12,744,157 



In 1839, the revenues amounted to $11,215,848. The income from 
the post-office department, (which is not included in the statement for 1840,) 
was $178,738, in 1839. In 1840, the lotteries produced the gross sum 
of $215,437 — but as the expenses connected with their management, 
amounted to $158,485, it left a balance of but $56,952, for the Govern- 
ment. The " sealed paper," or stamp tax, produced $110,863, but as this 
impost has been nearly doubled during 1842, the revenue must at present 
be proportionally greater. 



318 



MEXICO 



I have been unable to obtain any of the official documents of 1841 and 
1842, (in consequence of the disturbed condition of the country,) with the 
exception of the Custom House returns, for the former year. 



East Coast. 



West Coast. 



Custom-Houses. 

f Vera Cruz, 
\ Tampico, 
[ Matamoras, 
Mazatlan, 
Guyamas, 
Monterey, 
Acapulco, 
San Bias, 



Tonnnge Duty. 


Nett proceeds after deducting 
costs of collection. 


$31,032 


$3,374,528 


7,363 


1,019,046 


3,525 


279,627 


6,245 


397,213 


2,092 


46,189 


810 


85,982 


573 


7,193 


2,719 


190,270 



$55,259 



$5,399,948 



It will be perceived that the Custom Houses of Tabasco, CampecM, 
Sisal, Isla de Carmen, and Bacalar, are not included in the preceding 
statement, in consequence of the separation of the first (during the pe- 
riod,) from her allegiance to the Republic, and on account of the rebel- 
lious condition of the rest. At the date of the statement, reports from 
Goatzacoalco, Alvarado, Tuxpan, Huatulco, Manzanillo, La Paz, Pueblo 
Viejo, Altata, Loreto, San Diego, San Francisco, Soto la Marina, and 
from the frontier posts of Paso del Norte, Comitan, Tonala, Santa Fe de 
N. Mexico, y Presidio del Norte, had not been yet received at the Treas- 
ury Office in the Capital. The costs of the collection of this revenue 
amounted to $52,886, and the salaries of officers to $295,404. 

I regret that I was unable to obtain any very accurate date of the 3anta 
Fe Trade, which, under judicious management, might no doubt be very 
advantageously conducted for the interest of both countries. In the pres- 
ent distracted state, however, of Texas and the Northern Provinces of 
Mexico, little is to be hoped, until better feelings and better regulations are 
firmly established. Santa Fe, and Chihuahua divide the trade ; the lat- 
ter, since the year 1831. The subjoined rough estimate has been given 
me of the value of our trade at both places since that period : 



Years. ' 



Total at cost. 



1831 


$250,000 


1832 


150,000 


1833 


145,000 


18.34 


160,000 


1835 


135,000 


1836 


122,000 


1837 


150,000 


1838 


90,000 


1839 


260,000 


1840 


50,000 


1841 


100,000 


1842 


200,000 



Taken to Chihuahua. 



$40,000 
45,000 
50,000 
60,000 
55,000 
55,000 
75,000 
50.000 
150.000 
10,000 
50,000 
60,000 



Men. 



320 
150 
140 
160 
140 
120 
150 
100 
250 
60 
150 
200 



Wages. 



130 
80 
75 
80 
70 
60 
80 
50 

135 
30 
80 

120 



SMUGGLING. 319 

No one who has resided any length of time in Mexico, either connected 
or unconnected with commerce, can fail to have heard of the extent to 
which smuggling has been and still is carried on in the Republic. This 
infamous system, alike destructive of private morals and public integrity, 
has become a regular business in portions of the country, and, after hav- 
ing been, to a great extent, suppressed on the Eastern coast, has for several 
years occupied the attention of numbers on the West. Mr. McClure* 
calculated that the Republic possesses " a frontier of five thousand miles, 
including the sinuosities, windings, and turnings of bays, gulfs and rivers 
on the Pacific ; three thousand miles on the United States of America and 
Texas ; and above two thousand five hundred on the Gulf of Mexico ; 
making, in all, ten thousand five hundred miles of frontier to guard 
against illicit trade, without an individual on the one thousand two hundredth 
yart of the space to give notice of any depredations that may happen." 

Now, although the estimate of this philanthropist may appear rather 
^■anciful, when we remember, that wherever there are smugglers to intro- 
c^uce it is probable that there are individuals to receive, and consequently 
.hat the Government might be protected ; still it is undeniable that the ter-' 
ritory is vast, the population sparse, and the corruption of government 
agents has been as shameful as it was notorious. Facts came to my 
Knowledge, while a resident in Mexico, which proved, beyond question, 
this immoral tampering, and went far to implicate men of rank and capa- 
city in the country. I forbear to detail these occurrences here, but I have 
the documents, in writing, under the attestation of an individual who was 
approached by one of the vile instruments in the deed of shame, and I 
feel perfectly satisfied of their unexaggerated accuracy. I do not men- 
tion this circumstance, for the purpose of reflecting on the existing Gov- 
ernment ; but simply to direct the attention of such Mexicans as may read 
these letters, to a frightful evil, the extirpation of which will at once in- 
crease the financial resources of the country and improve the morals of 
their people. It may be urged, perhaps, that it is impossible to correct 
this maladministration ; and, I confess, there appears to be much force in 
the remarks which I subjoin, from the author I have just quoted. At page 
292, of his " Opinions," Mr. McClure observes : 

" In the comparatively limited frontiers, a;nd crowded population of the 
European monarchies, with their hundreds of thousands of soldiers and 
officers of the customs, it has been found impossible to prevent smuggling, 
with all its attendant crimes and corruptions. What hopes, then, can a 
small population scattered over so extensive a surface, have, that a reve- 
nue will be collected, even if it were probable in the present state of 
morals to find honest collectors ! It would be contrary to all former 
experience and analogy, to expect anything else, in this country, than a 
gradual diminution of the revenue, in the ratio of the organization of smug- 
gling. All additional guards or officers of the customs, would certainly 

•Vide McCIure'g "Opinions." 



320 MEXICO, 

increase the quantity of bribery and corruption, but would not add to the 
revenue a sum equal to their pay !" 

NATIONAL DEBT. 

The national debt of Mexico is one of very considerable importance, 
and may be divided into the two great classes of Foreign and Internal 
debt. 

The Internal Debt amounts to #18,550,000 ; and in 1841 the customs 
were mortgaged to pay this sum, in the following subdivisions : 



17 per cent. 


of the Customs devoted 


to a debt of - . - 


$2,040,000 


15 


ki « 


M • 


410,000 


12 « 


(i (( 


l< . . _ 


2,100,000 


10 


(( (( 


II _ _ 


3,100,000 


8 


« (( 


II - . . 


1,200,000 


10 « 


(C (( 


Tobacco fund debt, 


9,700,000 


16f « 


II II 


Interest on English debt. 




10 " 


l( II 


Garrison fund. 




98§ 


$18,550,000 



IJ balance clear of lien, for the Government ! 
100 

The Foreign Debt is still larger than this ; and (including the above,) 
I will state the entire national responsibility, as it existed at the end 
of last year : 

Internal debt, $18,550,000 

Debt to English creditors, 60,003,000 

United States claims and interest, say .... 2,400,000 

Copper to be redeemed, ...... 2,000,000 

Claims for Hilazo - - 700,000 

Bustamante loan, 500,000 



$84,150,000 



Until 1841, the whole of the revenue, except 11^ per cent, was appro- 
priated to the payment of $18,.550,000, while the remaining claims were 
entirely unprotected by securities. Shortly after the accession of Santa 
Anna to power, he suspended (by a decree of the 16th of February) the 
payment of the first five funds charged upon the customs, as stated in a 
preceding table, but reserved the active appropriation for the Tobacco and 
English interest debts. This, as may be well imagined, created great dis- 
satisfaction among the mercantile classes, and among numbers of persons 
who had invested their capital in Government loans, with a reliance upon 
the revenues as a solemn pledge for their redemption. Santa Anna, how- 
ever, withstood the torrent manfully. He was assailed by legations, 
newspapers, and individuals, but nothing could induce him to yield the 



NATIONAL DEBT. 321 

pressing wants of the Government to their importunities. He was, in fact, 
forced to the measure. The national credit was irremediably impaired, 
and he found it impossible to obtain loans. The consequence was, the 
seizure of the customs by the suspension of their prior appropriation until 
he was enabled to relieve his Treasury. 

Independently of the English and the American debt, the claims upon 
the Mexican Government have usually been created by means of loans 
of the most usurious character. In order to illustrate this system, and to 
show the enormous rates at which lenders endeavored to assure themselves 
against loss by depreciation, I will recount some transactions which were 
partly effected in 1841. 

On the 20th of September, fifteen days before' the treaty of Estansuela, 
the administration of President Bustamante offered the following terms for 
a loan of $1,200,000. It proposed to receive the sum of $200,000 in cash, 
and $1,000,000 represented in the paper or credits of the Government. 
These credits or paper were worth, in the market, nine per cent. About 
one-half of the loan was taken, and the parties obtained ordei's on the seve- 
ral maritime Custom Houses, receivable in payment of duties. 

The revenues of the Custom House, of Matamoras, have been always 
hitherto appropriated to pay the army, on the northern frontier of the Re- 
public. During the administration of General Bustamante, the command- 
ant of Matamoras issued bonds or drafts against that Custom House for 
$150,000, receivable for all kinds of duties as cash. He disposed of these 
bonds to the merchants of that port for $100,000 — and, in addition to the 
lonus of $50,000, allowed them interest on the $100,000, at the rate of 
three per cent, per month, until they had duties to pay which they could 
extinguish by the drafts. 

Another transaction, of a singular nature, developes the character of the 
Government's negotiations, and can only be accounted for by the receipt of 
some advantages which the act itself does not disclose to the public. 

The mint at Guanajuato, or the right to coin at that place, was con- 
tracted for, in 1842, by a most respectable foreign house in Mexico, for 
$71,000 easily for the term o^ fourteen years, at the same time that another 
offer was before the Government, stipulating for the payment of $400,000 
for the same period, payable in annual instalments of $25,000 each. The 
$71,000 in hand, were, however, deemed of more value than the pros- 
pective four hundred thousand ! This mint leaves a nett annual income 
of $60,000 ! 

With such a spendthrift abandonment of the resources of the country, 
continued, for a series of years, in the midst of the pressure of foreign 
claims and domestic warfare, it is, indeed, wonderful that Mexico has so 
long survived the ruin which must inevitably overtake her with a debt of 
$84,000,000, and an annual expenditure (as will be seen from the suc- 
21 



322 MEXICO. 

ceeding statement,) of $13,000,000, independent of payment of interest, 
balances, and loans. Yet with all these incumbrances, created under the 
most usurious exactions, it is greatly to her honor that she has not repu- 
diated the claims of her creditors ; — a moral and political firmness in which 
she may well be emulated by some of those very States that have been 
loudest in their thoughtless abuse of a sister Republic. 

A late Mexican paper states, that the Minister of the Treasury of Mex- 
ico has published a decree, by which the President directs twenty-five 
per cent, of all the receipts of the Custom Houses of the Republic to be 
set apart as a " sinking fund," to pay the public debt. This fund is to 
be inviolable. The decree provides for the consolidation and funding of 
the debt at the rate of a six per cent, stock, for which it will be ex- 
changed by such as choose. Those who do not embrace this arrange- 
ment with the Government are to have their claims liquidated, only, when 
out of the sinking fund now created, those who accede to the exchange of 
stock, shall have been first of all paid! 

If we exclude the American debt, now in the course of payment, (an 
exclusion nevertheless improper, as the Government has but changed her 
responsibility from a foreign creditor to a domestic one,) the debt of Mex- 
ico may still be fairly estimated at $82,000,000, which, at six per cent., 
bears an annual interest of $4,920,000. The actual income from cus- 
toms and all resources may be set down at $13,000,000 — 25 per cent, on 
which will produce a fund of $3,250,000, or $1,670,000 less than the in- 
terest on the whole debt f It may well be asked whence is to proceed the 
" sinking fund," so long as such a deficiency exists ? 

TABLE OF THE EXPENSES OF THE MEXICAN GOVERN- 
MENT IN 1840. 



SUPKEME POWEES. DoUais. Total 

Poder Conservador, - - - - - -' 30,000 

Legislature, - - - - - - - 319,550 

Executive, Ministers, Council, Secretary, Archives, &c. 230,930 

Supreme Court, 79,300 



$659,780 



DIPLOMACY. 
Legations, Consuls, Commissioners, &c. - - ^—^— 140,000 

TEE ASTIR Y. 

National Treasury, Almacenes generales, Direccion 
de Rentas, Heads of the Treasury, and Depart- 
mental Treasuries, ..-.-- 251,758 6 

Pensions to retired officers, - - - - . 174,942 

Pensions of the Mont de Piete, ... - 160,554 

587,254 6 

$1,387,034 6 



CIVIL LIST. 323 

Dollara. Total. 

B't for'd, $1,387,034 6 

JUDICIART. 
Salaries of Departmental Magistrates, Judges and Sub- 

aiterns, 1,207,376 

POLITICAL. 

Governors, Secretaries, Departmental Juntas, Prefects, 

their Secretaries and sub-Prefects, - - 847,467 

ECCLESIASTICAL. 
Bishoprics of Sonora and Yucatan, ... 15,200 

Missions, ........ 31,930 

. 47,130 

INSTKTTCTION, BENEVOLENCE, AND PUNISHMENT. 

Academy of San Carlos, ..... 13,000 

Museum, 5,600 

Conservatory of Chapul tepee, and Professor of Botany, 2,200 
Colleges of St. Juan Lateran, Ildefonso, Espiritu San- 
to at Puebla 20,000 

Professors in University at Mexico, .... 7,613 

School of Surgery, 1,500 ' 

Professors of Medical School or College, . . - 10,800 

Director of Institution of Medical Sciences, &c. &c. 2,160 

Hospitals, Prisons, Fortresses, .... 180,000 

260,409 

SALARIES OF VARIOUS OFFICERS OF PALACE. 

Concierge, - 420 

Architect, ..----. 200 

Chapkin, COO 

Two Porters, 1»200 

Gardener, IfiOO ■ ^^^ 

RENTS, PENSIONS, ETC. 
Collegiate of N. S. of Guadalupe, . . - 26,391 4 9 

Civil Pensions, - - - - ' - - - 70,178 

96,596 4 9 

Sundries, Printing, &c. &c 87,596 5 3 

WAR OFFICE. 

Salaries of officers — (active,) . - - - . 357,397 3 6 

« « « (on leave,) .... 28,759 7 

« « « (retired,) 718,399 2 

Military 3Iont de Fiete, 291,079 3 9 

Armv. privates, and all other military expenses, . 6,604,379 7 9 

^'*^ 8,000,000 

DIVIDENDS ON FOREIGN DEBT, - - - - 1,155,922 2 5 

$13,155,922 2 5 
Exclusive of the payment of loans and balances. 
Mexico, 28th July, 1841. 

The deficiencies to which I have alluded, on . the page preceding the 
last tabular statement, must be still more apparent and lamentable after 
21* 



324 



MEXICO. 



an examination of a document which exhibits an expenditure of $8,000,000 
(in a time of peace with all the rest of the world,) for a War Department, 
the active officers of which receive $357,397 a year, while the retired are 
paid more than double that amount ; at the same time that the whole Civil 
Administration of the country costs but about four millions ! This state- 
ment would appear to indicate a degree of necessary coercion and cor- 
ruption, which are but slender promises of the growth of peace, glory, 
and prosperity. The feeble support given to public instruction by direct 
contributions of the Government I have already alluded to, and the reader 
may, at a glance, see how much is expended for punishment, and how 
little for instruction and benevolence. The army is constantly the fond- 
ling of the rulers of the day. By it they are elevated to power ; by it 
they are sustained or defeated, and, relying on its bayonets rather than 
the hearts and intellects of the great masses of their countrymen, they 
are obliged to pay both well and promptly the masters they pretend to 
rule. 

The cost of this branch of the service must have greatly increased in 
1842 and 1843, in consequence of the meditated attack upon Texas and 
the actual conflict with Yucatan. I regret that I have no data upon these 
subjects ; but it may fairly be calculated, that if the expenses were 
$8,000,000 in 1840, in a period of comparative tranquillity, (with the ex- 
ception of a short revolution in the Capital,) they must have been swelled 
in 1 842 and the present year, by the purchase of steamers and munitions 
of war, to near 10 or $12,000,000. 

ARMY AND NAVY. 



In regard to the numbers of the Akmy, I am equally without informa- 
tion since 1840 ; but I may state that the forces have been considerably 
augmented, and in all probability amount to 40,000 men. In 1840, the 
Mexican army was composed of 



14 Generals of Division, 
26 « of Brigade, 

3 Brigades, (on foot,) 
I ^ " (mounted,) 

5 Separate Companies, 

1 Director General, 
3 Colonels, 

6 Lieutenant Colonels, 
1 Adjutant, 

14 Captains, - 
16 Lieutenants, 
10 Sub-lieutenants, 

1 Battalion. 



ARTILLERY. 



ENGINEER CORPS. 



SAPPERS. 



$500 
375 



235 

141 

104 

84 

62 

39 



per month. 



NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCE. 325 

PLANA MAYOR DEL EJERCITO. 
This was composed of the General-in-Chief and a number of 
Colonels, Lieutenant-Colonels, Captains, &c. &c. 

PERMANENT INFANTRY. 

8 Regiments of 2 battalions each, each battalion of 8 companies, 

each company of 112 men, officers included — or in all 14,336 

persons : each soWier IS paid, $11 93| per month. 

ACTIVE INFANTRY. 

9 Regiments. This body differs from the preceding, or Terma- 

nent Infantry, in being liable to service only when required 
by Government ; or, in other words, it is a sort of national 

militia, well drilled — Total number, 16,128. 

« 

PERMANENT CAVALRY. 
8 Regiments, each regiment composed of 2 squadrons, each 
squadron of 2 companies. Each regiment composed, in all, 

of 676 men,— or the 8 of 4,056, at 12 50 " «« 

35 Separate Companies in various places throughout the Republic. 

ACTIVE CAVALRY. 
6 Regiments of 4 squadrons, each squadron of 2 companies. 

NAVY. 

The Navy of Mexico consists at present of 3 Steam Frigates, 2 Brigs, 3 Schooners, 
2 Gunboats.* 



MINES AND COINAGE. 

In treating of the resources of men and money of Mexico, it will not 
be uninteresting (after knowing that the production of the mines amounts 
in value annually to about twenty-two millions, of which twelve find 
their way to the mints,) to present a statement of the total coinage of the 
country, derived from the records of the earliest periods to which access 
could be had. 



* A paper published at Vera Cruz in 1845, furnishes the following list of the Mexican Navy : — 
Steamer Guadaloupb of 778 tons, mounting two 68-pounder3 amidships, four 12-pound carron- 
ades, and one mortar. — Steamer Montezuma, 1100 tons, one 68-pounder amidships, two 32- 
pound carronades. — Brig Mexicano, one 12-pounder amidships, and fourteen 18-pound carronades. 
Brig Vera Cruzano Libra, one 32-pounder amidships, six 18-pound carronades, and two 12- 
pound carronades. — Schooner Aguila, one 32-pounder amidships, and eight carronades. — 
Schooner Libertad, one 12-pounder amidships. — Gafftopsail Schooner Morelos, one 12- 
pounder amidships ; and five Gunboats, each carrying a 24-pounder amidships. All these vessels 
want repairs. 

In December, 1844, the Mexican Army (as per statement made to Congress) consisted of 1,840 
Artillery ; 21,557 Infantry; 9,539 Cavalry ; making a total of near 33,000 men. This force is 
shown by official documents to have been reduced to less than 30,000. Since then the two Steam- 
ers have been sold. 



326 MEXICO. 

TABLE OF THE COINAGE OF MEXICO FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS 
TO THE PRESENT DAY. 

The Mint of the City of Mexico was established ia 

1535, but there are no returns for the first 155 

years, until 1690. If we take the average of 

the coinage of these years to have been $1,- 

000,000, we shall have $155,000,000 

From 1690 to 1803, inclusive, .... 1,353,452,020 

" 1803 to 1821, inclusive, 261,354,022 

« 1822 5,543,254 

" 1823 3,567,821 

" 1824 3,503,880 

« 1825 ........ 6,036,878 

" 1825 to 1831 (on an average three millions per 

annum,) 15,000,000 

« 1831 13,000,000 

" 1832 - - '- - - - - - 12,500,000 

« 1833 12,500,000 

" 1834 12,040,000 

« 1835 12,000,000 

« 1836 12,050,000 

" 1837 11,610,000 

" 1838 to 1843 (averaging twelve millions,) . 60,000,000 

To this must be added the coinage of State mints not 

included in the above : 

Guanajuato, from 1812 to 1826 .... 3,024,194 

Zacatecas " 1810 to 1826 .... 32,108,185 

Guadalaxara, " 1812 to 1826 .... 5,659,159 

Durango, « 1811 to 1826 - .• - . 7,483,626 

Chihuahua, « 1811 to 1814 .... 3,603,660 

Sombrerete, " 1810 to 1811 .... 1,561,249 
All of these for the five years (after 1826) since which 

they have been calculated in the general 'coinage, 60,000,000 

Total $2,068,597,948 

This amount, you will see, is less than it has been made by several 
other writers. 



THE CHURCH OF MEXICO— ITS WEALTH AND 
INFLUENCE. 

The Ch jRch of Mexico is the next and last topic to which I shall direct 
your attention, and I am compelled again to regret the want of an accu- 
rate account of the convents, properties, members, and wealth of the Reli. 
gious Orders in 1842. I diligently sought information from individuals 
who should have been au fait on these subjects, yet I could gain from 



NATIONAL CHURCH. 327 

them but little knowledge of an authentic character. I am satisfied, that 
this arose neither from a narrow distrust of foreigners, nor a Chinese dis- 
like of divulging the secrets of their country. The want of a general 
work of reference on statistics is denounced, as " shameful and lamenta- 
ble," by Seiior Otero in his treatise on the social and political condition of 
Mexico. 

" In 1842," says this writer, " we possess no publication upon Mexican 
statistics except the work of Baron Humboldt, written in 1804. That 
work, precious as it is, has become useless as a guide, in consequence of 
the immense changes during the intervention of a long and revolutionary 
period. A complete statistical treatise might be easily compiled without 
expense to the National Treasury, by merely obliging the functionaries 
of the Government to make regular and minute returns, which should be 
digested and edited by competent persons in the Capital. Without such 
a work it will be impossible to understand the complicated interests of this 
vast country, or to keep the machinery of its Government in successful 
operation."* 

It is, indeed, difficult to imagine how the adm.inistrations carried on the 
affairs of the nation as long as they have done, without a system of 
statistical book-keeping, which is as necessary for them-as a ledger is for 
the prudent merchant. 

The Ministers of State have occasionally presented reports to the Na- 
tional Congresses upon the condition of their several Departments; but 
these productions have been brief, unsatisfactory, without detail, and rather 
involving the matters of which they treat in doubt and uncertainty, by 
their vague generalization, than clearly illustrating the interests, wants, 
and resources of the Republic. 

Of all branches of the national administration, none has suffered more 
obscuration by this diplomatic rhetoric than the question of the Church, 
which properly belonged to the portfolio of the Minister of Public Justice 
and Instruction. It was a subject that men seemed fekrful to approach. 
They admitted that there were abuses in the body ; — ^that many of its 
members were corrupt, idle, ignorant, and vicious ; — and that it enjoyed 
large revenues, flowing in a narrow stream, which, if suffered to diverge 
into smaller rivulets, would nourish the parched land and improve the 
condition of suffering multitudes. But wealth and property were banned 
and sanctified. The estahlishment was the religion; and he who ven- 
tured to assail the one must necessarily attack the other. Thus, even 
patriots who were not ordinarily affected by nervous dread, stood appalled 
at the first frown of priestly indignation, and trembled for their fate in a 
conflict between the temporal power and that tremendous spiritual influ- 
ence which slept like an electric fire in the hearts of the people, ready, 
on the slightest impulse, to be kindled into a destructive flame. 

It would be unjust, however, to leave you under the impression that 
the ministers of this church have been solely engaged in enriching them. 

* Vide Otfro.CuesMon Social y Politica, p. 30-31. 



328 MEXICO. 

selves, and scandalizing the cause of true faith, as has been so often pro- 
claimed by European travellers. Although many of them are unworthy 
persons, and notwithstanding their rites and ceremonies are often rathei 
accommodated to a population scarcely emerged from the forests, than to 
intellectual man; — yet the wealth of the church has not been at all times 
devoted to base and sordid purposes, or used to corrupt its possessors and 
the people. Throughout the Republic no persons have been more univer- 
sally the agents of charity and ministers of mercy, than the rural clergy. 
The village curas are the advisers, the friends and protectors, of their 
flocks. Their houses have been the hospitable retreats of every travel- 
ler. Upon all occasions they constituted themselves the defenders of the 
Indians, and contributed toward the maintenance of institutions of benevo- 
lence. They have interposed in all attempts at persecution, and, wher- 
ever the people were menaced with injustice, stood forth the champions of 
their outraged rights. To this class, however, the wealth of the church 
was of small import. 

These virtues and devotion have served to fix the whole priesthood 
deeply in the hearts of the masses, and to attach the poor to their persons 
and enlist them in defence of their property. The priest, the creed, the 
church and its revenues, seemed to be one and indivisible in the notions of 
the people ; and, in turn, the priesthood became jealous and watchful of 
the power which this very affection had created. Avarice was not want- 
ing to increase their gains from dying penitents, pious bequests, holy oifer- 
ings and lavish endowments. And thus (often grossly human while 
humbly good,) they have contrived, upon the same altar, to serve God 
and Mammon. 

It is now quite natural, that they should desire to preserve the property 
which has been collected during so many years of religious toil and ava- 
ricious saving, and they dread the advance of that intellectual march 
which, in the course of time, will consign their monastic establishments 
to the fate of those of England and Spain. The combination of large 
estates, both real and personal, in the hands of a united class acting by 
spiritual influence, under the direction of one head, must be powerful in 
any country, but certainly is most to be dreaded in a Republic, where 
secret ecclesiastical influence is added to the natural control of extra- 
ordinary wealth. 

It is difficult to say with accuracy, for the reasons I have already 
assio-ned, what this wealth at present is, — but I think the number of Con- 
vents, devoted to about two thousand Nuns in the Republic, is fifty-eight ; 
for the support of which, (in addition to a floating capital of rather more 
than four millions and a half, with an income therefrom of two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars,) they possess some seventeen hundred estates 
or properties, producing an annual revenue of about five hundred and 
sixty thousand dollars. 

There are about three thousand nve nunared »ecular Clergymen and 
seventeen hundred Monks. 



NATIONAL CHURCH. 329 

The Jotter possess one hundred and fifty Conventual establishments, 
divided as follows : 

The Dominicans, --..- ....25 

Franciscans, .......... 68 

Augustines, ..........22 

Carmelites, ..........16 

Mercedarios, .......... 19 

150 

Nuns, ,...., 2,000 

Monks, .......... 1,700 

Secular Clergy, . . - ' 3,500 

7,200 

A number certainly inadequate to the spiritual wants of a population 
of seven millions, and yet too small to be proprietors of estates worth at 
least ninety millions of dollars, according to the annexed valuation: 

Real property in town and country, - ^18,000,000 

Churches, houses, convents, curates, dwellings, furniture, jnoels, pre- 
cious vessels, &c 52,000,000 

Floating capital — together with other funds — and the capital required 

to produce the sum received by them annually in alms, . . 20,000,000 



$90,000,000 



The real property is estimated to have been worth at least 25 per cent. 
more, previous to the Revolution, and, to this enhanced value must be 
added about 8115,000,000 of capital, founded on '^ contriiuciones " and 
"derechos reales,'' or imposts to which they were entitled, on the property 
of the country.* 

The value of their churches, the extent of their city property, 'the 
power they possess as lenders, and the quantity of jewels, precious ves- 
sels, and golden ornaments, will raise the above statement, I am confident, 
to nearer 8100,000,000 than ninety, or to a sum about eigUij -eight millions 
less than it was before the outbreak of the war of Independence ; at which 
period, the number of ecclesiastics is estimated to have been 10,000 or 
13,000, including the lay-brotherhood and the subordinates of the church. 

During the royal Government, the influence of these rich proprietors 
must necessarily have been exceedingly great. It was the policy of the 
Spanish cabinet to cherish the temporalities of the Mexican Church. The 
mayorazgos or rights of primogeniture, forced the younger sons either into 
the profession of arms or of religion ; and it was requisite that ample pro- 
vision should be made for them in secure and splendid establishments. 
Thus, all the lucrative and easy benefices came into the hands of Span- 

* Vide Otero, p. 38. 39. 43. 



330 MEXICO. 

iards or their descendants, and by far the greater portion of the more 
elevated ecclesiastics were persons of high birth or influential connections. 

But the rights of primogeniture have been abolished. The laws of the 
Republic have taken away the power to collect tithes by compulsory pro- 
cesses. And the consequence is, that the church has become unpopular 
with the upper classes as a means of maintenance, while a comparatively 
democratic spirit has been infused into its members, who now spring from 
the humbler ranks. Still, however, the remaining wealth and the forces 
of clanship have preserved in their body a most powerful influence. 

While this change has occurred in the church, the army has become 
equally unpopular with the upper ranks as a profession, and as its com- 
mand is consequently intrusted to men who have arisen immediately 
from the people, or, in other words, as the same classes of society fur- 
nish both the church and the army, the church and the army will, in 
all probability, (while forming aristocracies in themselves,) sustain each 
other against the aristocracy of landed proprietors, and all who live upon 
their income without the necessity of labor. 

Between these two classes there will be a constant war of opinion, while 
the only real democracy of the nation is left to reside in individuals, 
who have neither estates to despoil nor wealth to confiscate. The fellow 
feeling between the church and the army, arising from the kindred ori- 
gin of their numbers, is, however, no protection to the riches of the former. 
The Government, pressed by its wants, is beginning to encroach gradually 
on its resources, and, within the last two years, has appropriated parts of 
the real estates of the clergy to replenish an empty treasury. That such 
is an honest and patriotic devotion of ecclesiastical means, no one can 
deny, and the doctrine is sustained by legal writers of the highest author- 
ity.* The church has no need of possessions, except for purposes of 
beneficence and charity. The vow of its members is for chastity and 
poverty. It receives, only to become an almoner for more extensive 
benevolence. And as the State, in the hour of need, must ever be the 
chief pauper, she has an unquestioned right to call upon the ministers 
of God, in the spirit of the religion they teach, to open their coffers freely 

* Vide Vattel, Book 1, Chapter 12, 1 152. 

" The State," says this high legal authority, " has unquestionably the power to exempt the property of tha 
church from all imposts, when tha* Dropertyis not more than adequate to the support of the ecclesiastics. But 
the priesthood has no right to this favor except by the authority of the State, which has always the right to revoke 
it when the public good requires. One of the fundamental and essential laws of society is, that on all occasions 
of need the goods of all ite members ought to contribute proportionably to the wants of the community. Even 
the prince himself cannot, by his authority, grant an entire exemption to a numerous and wealthy body of per- 
sons, without committing an extreme injustice to the rest of his subjects, upon whom the burden would alto- 
gether fall by this exemption. 

Far from the goods of the church being exempted because they are consecrated to God,— it is for that T«?ry 
?eason that they should be the first taken for the welfare of the State. There is nothmg more agreeable to Ilia 
Common Father of men, than to preserve a nation from destruction. As God has no need of rroperty, die con- 
secration of goods to Him, is their devotion to such usages as are pleasant to him. Besides, the property of the 
church, by the confession of the clergy themselves, is chiefly destined for the poor. Now, when the State i* in 
want, it is, doubtless, the first pauper and the worthiest of succor. We may extend this reasoning to the moit 
ordinary cases, and say, that to impose a part of the current expenses on tlie church property in order to relievrt 
the people to that extent, b really to give thos* goods to tha poor, aocordins to the tuirit of their oriEinai 
lestination." 



NATIONAL CHURCH. 331 

for the public good. With its ninety or one hundred millions of property 
and money, it might extinguish the national debt of eighty-four millions, 
and still leave an ample support for its seven thousand members, or, at 
least, for its Secular Clergy, who would be cherished and sustained more 
liberally by the masses for an act of such Christian sacrifice and benev- 
olence. 



LETTER XXXII. 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 



Darkness hangs upon both extremes'of Mexican History. The an- 
cient story of that beautiful country is lost in the gloom of tradition ; — the 
detail of her colonial history is buried in Spanish archives ; — her revolu- 
tionary history is blotted with blood ; — her present is uncertain, and her 
future is impenetrable even to the eye of hope. 

I vi'ill take the liberty to recall to you, however, some of the prominent 
events that have recently occurred, and the character and purposes of 
those to whom the nation owes its origin. 

Cortez was the personification of a period in the development of this 
Continent. Warrior, orator, statesman, poet, historian ; — he blended in 
himself every requisite for a daring adventurer, and his success may 
well be esteemed the result of a single resolute mind over a whole Em- 
pire of mere physical force. He had the power to conceive and fashion 
his projects ; to lead and control men ; to fight ; to diplomatize with cun- 
ning foes ; to speak with fluency and eloquence to multitudes ; to sing in 
sweet verse the lay of knight or lover, and, with becoming modesty and 
grace, to tell the tale of his own achievements in phrase befitting the 
ear of an enlightened monarch.* In fact, he was, in every quality, the 
proper person to lead so bold a band of Spaniards as that which gathered 
around his standard, when he unfurled it for the conquest of Mexico. 

While the love of glory, and the enthusiasm of a bigot in religion, United 
with the most eminent loyalty to form the chief characteristics of Cortez, 
the purposes and temper of those who joined his enterprise are much more 
questionable. 

Spain required a vent for her population, and the new-found world 
afforded it. People of staid habits and regular morals were not tempted 
to the perils of an adventurous life ; but there were thousands who had 
neither means nor objects sufficient to retain them on their native soil. 
Men of mark, but broken fortunes ; rakes of old distinction, such as de- 
cay in the corrupting atmosphere of courts ; noisy and riotous young men ; 
soldiers, half bandit, half warrior ; and all the offal of a society dissi- 

♦ See the recent translation of his Dispatches to the Emperor, by Mr. Folsom, of New- York. 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 333 

pated, hopeless and impoverished, and living without those sanctions and 
restraints that alone make life valuable or useful. Such were the reck- 
less crews that first set forward in the conquest of this hemisphere, without 
the common sympathies of humanity ; regardless of the laws of nature or 
nations, and, indeed, heedless of everything but the acquisition of treasure 
or territory, by a warfare that degenerated into the murder of people to 
whom the name of the Spanish king, or the idea of the Christian's God, had 
never been revealed, even in their wildest dreams. 

Thus was the foundation of the new Empire laid, in the violent destruc- 
tion of an ancient religion and monarchy. 

Families of character and distinction soon came over, and the new do- 
main was rapidly filled with a population willing to take advantage of its 
resources ; — but several things impeded the social and moral progress of 
New Spain. 

It was but a colony ; and a colony, too, devoted by the mother country to 
none of those branches of industry that foster the independent and manly 
growth of a people, and bring out the mind of a nation. It was the mine 
and mint of Spain. 

It was taught to believe, that silver was a sort of vegetable product of 
the earth, growing like flowers, and to be had for the asking. And thus 
at the outset of its career, the germ of industrious self-reliance and inde- 
pendence, was withdrawn from the fostering policy of the parent State. 
Commerce, manufactures, and an extensive agriculture, — looking to all 
parts of the world as its consumers, — were discouraged, and the infant 
colony was forced to receive from Spain the results of her industry, while, 
in turn, it sent nothing back that indicated genius, talent, activity, enter- 
prise, invention; — or, indeed, anything but that its valleys and hills con- 
tained exhaustless quantities of precious metals, which it could drag from 
their recesses and transmute into coin by the labor of enslaved and 
ignorant Indians. 

Nor was New Spain opened to the colonization of other nations, who 
might have been invited to a healthful and energizing mixture of races. 
On the contrary, the Spaniards grafted themselves upon the conquered 
and debased aborigines, and the mongrel blood became dull and indolent. 

Although the laws of the Indies were calculated to protect the natives, 
they, nevertheless, suffered dreadfully under the prescriptive adminis- 
tration of colonial power ; and, becoming the victims of avarice, were 
gradually degraded, step by step, to the helot condition in which we find 
them at the present day. 

" Instead of restraints on the claims of ecclesiastics, the inconsiderate 
zeal of the Spanish lesgislators," says Dr. Robertson, " admitted them into 
America to their full extent, and at once imposed on the Spanish colonies 
a burden, which is in no slight degree oppressive to society, even in its 
most improved state. As early as the year 1501, the payment of tithes 
in the colonies was enjoined, and the mode of it regulated by law. Every 



334 MEXICO. 

article of primary necessity, toward ^which the attention of new settlers 
must naturally be turned, was submitted to this grievous exaction. Nor 
were the demands of the clergy confined to articles of simple and easy 
culture. Its more artificial and operose productions, such as sugar, indigo 
and cochineal, were declared to be tilheahle ; and thus the industry of the 
planter was taxed in every stage of its progress, from its rudest essay to 
its highest improvement. To the weight of this legal imposition, the 
zeal of the American Spaniards made many voluntary additions ; — they 
bestowed profuse donations on churches and monasteries, and thus, unpro- 
fitably wasted a large proportion of that wealth, which might have nour- 
*ished and given vigor to productive labor in a growing colony." 

The Spaniard found a beautiful world, — a land bathed by two oceans, 
rising from one and sloping to the other, — and on both acclivities pos- 
sessing all the climates of the world, from the graceful shadow of the 
palm on the sea-shore, to eternal ice on the mountains overhanging the 
Valley of Mexico. All these climates on the same parallel of latUude, 
produced cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, cochineal, wheat, barley, corn, wine, 
and every variety of luscious fruit ; while, over all, an eternal spring bent 
its blue and cloudless skies. And, as if the surface of the earth were not 
sufficient to pamper the most craving appetites of her creatures, nature 
had veined the secret depths of the mountains with silver and precious 
materials, in exhaustless quantities. Yet, this prolific richness served but 
to hasten the destinies of the invaders, and to make them careless, depen- 
dent and idle. 

The parallel has so frequently been attempted, that it would perhaps be 
profitless to contrast the settlers of this alluring country with the equally 
enthusiastic but hardy and toilsome bands who peopled our north. But, 
it may not be unwise to remember the stability we have attained, on dreary 
and inhospitable coasts, by the steady march of faith, liberty, and the purity 
of enterprise ; while our southern neighbors, more favored by soil and 
seasons, have failed in producing the results of social and political peace, 
under the influence of a different creed, and the corruptions of a monarch- 
ical Government. 

We have now, however, to deal with a new people. Mexico has thrown 
off" the dominion of old Spain, and there is no marvel greater, in history, 
than that an Empire, with enervated character, — oppressed, ignorant, and 
almost destroyed as was this ^colony, — should still have had the spirit to 
discover and assert her rights. She cast aside the allurements of rank ; 
she converted her whole territory into a battle-field ; she tore herself from 
all the fast-rooted allegiances and loyalties of three centuries ; she aban- 
doned fortune ; she went through fifteen years of civil slaughter, — and, 
at length, alone, unaided, unsympathized with by the rest of the world, 
she achieved her independence. For the victory over such obstacles, 
Mexico deserves praise. She deserves more. She deserves the high and 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 335 

unqualified respect of the world, and especially of that portion of it which, 
par excellence, pretends to be the fostering parent of human rights and 
liberty throughout the globe. It proves that she possesses a sense of right, 
a virtue of endurance, a devotion to principle ; — and that, with domestic 
peace, she would assume among the nations of the earth the high place 
to which she is entitled, by the genius of her children and the magnificence 
of her Empire. 

Let me now invoke your attention to a brief historical outline of the 
Mexican Revolution, and its consequences. 

It was not until the mother country, herself, became temporarily sub- 
jected to a foreign Power, that the war of Independence was successfully 
commenced in her possessions on this Continent. That war had its origin 
as much in a desire of independence of France, as of Spain ; but it was 
too late to quell entirely the growing love of liberty, after the restoration 
of Ferdinand VII. in 1814. 

When Spain, in the following year, made her chief effort against her 
rebellious colonies, by the noted expedition from Cadiz under Morillo, 
those colonies might still have been within her control if proper means had 
been resorted to by the directors of her councils. And it is the opinion 
of distinguished statesmen, that had she succeeded in " reducing the coast 
of Terra Firma and New Grenada, the provinces of La Plata, divided 
among themselves, and weakened by the Portuguese occupation of Monte 
Video, would, in all probability, not have held out against her power." 

But there were a thousand things to exasperate the war of Independence. 
It was not only a war of freedom, but of caste; and it is almost impossible 
to credit the atrocities with which it was prosecuted against the insurgents. 
. After the first successes of the Mexicans, there was a period of reaction 
when the Spaniards again obtained a temporary mastery under Calleja, 
and the annals of the time teem with accounts of the sanguinary ven- 
geance wreaked by that inhuman monster on the victims who fell within 
his grasp. After he obtained possession of the revolted city of Guana- 
iuato, he caused the inhabitants to be driven into the great Square of the 
town, and near fourteen thousand men, womeri and children were butchered, 
like cattle, on the spot. Proclaiming that " powder and ball were too costly 
to be wasted in their execution," he let loose his soldiery on the defence- 
less crowd, with an order " to cut their throats," — and it is related, that the 
fountains and gutters of the city, literally ran with human blood !* 

These were things to be remembered and to exasperate. There was 
no longer any hope for the people. There was no disposition to temporize 
or conciliate. It was submission or death. And the " una salus victis 
nullam sperare salutem," nerved their arms and forced them into ardent 
and continued resistance. 

They conquered. I will not go over the whole detail of the Revolution. 
On the 24th of February, 1821, the Plan of Iguala was declared. Shortly 

* Vide Robinion's Histoiy of the Mexican Eevolutioo. 



336 MEXICO. 

aftei ward, Iturbid6 ascended the Imperial throne, to enjoy a short and 
troubled reign ; and it was, perhaps, by the false direction given to 
public sentiment and the ideas of the masses at this early moment of Inde- 
pendence, that we may attribute the subsequent disorders of the Republic. 
It is true, that Mexico was not then prepared for perfect democracy ; but 
as the nation required a patriotic direction, efforts should have been made, 
under proper checks and balances, to win Ae minds of the people to a 
love of those free institutions which the part and intellectual men of the 
country have been ever desiring. Dissatisfied as the Mexicans were with 
the administration and principles of Iturbide, they resorted to no acts of vio- 
lence against an individual who had so signally aided them in their recent 
conflict. They provided an ample support for himself and family, after his 
dethronement, and on the eleventh of May, 1823, he sailed for Leghorn. 

It is at this period that, in fact, commences the portion of Mexican his- 
tory with which it is our chief interest to deal. The war of Independence, 
as we have seen, was a war of escape. It settled no principle, — estab- 
lished no system. And when the old order of things had entirely disap- 
peared, the question rose as to what should be the government hereafter. 
Independence had opened the rest of the world to the inspection of the 
Mexicans. They beheld the progress of art, civilization, and freedom 
among their immediate neighbors at the north, and they resolved to adopt 
our system. 

After the departure of the Emperor, the Government remained provis- 
ionally in the hands of Bravo, Victoria, and Negrete ; and a National 
Representative body, after a session of fourteen months, formed a Con- 
stitution, (proclaimed on the 4th of October, 1824,) by which the sixteen 
original States were united in a Federal Republic. 

On the 1st of January, 1825, the first Congress under this Constitution 
assembled in the City of Mexico, and General Victoria was installed as 
President of the Republic. During the administration of this person, the 
spirit of discontent already broke forth among the ambitious spirits of the 
country, and there were several " Pronunciamientos," or decl'drations of 
distinguished men, seconded by portions of the military, intended to ex- 
cite revolutionary movements against the existing Government. 

The first of these gritos was headed by Robato and Colonel Staboli, 
and designed, as they declared, to deprive every Spaniard throughout the 
country, of public employment. The next, was by Padre Arenas, against 
the Federative System', and in favor of Centralism ; — and another, (also 
SLgainstfederation,) called the " Plan of Montanyo," was made at Tulan- 
cingo, but soon suppressed by Guerrero. 

Upon the whole, however, the administration of Victoria passed off with 
some degree of popularity, until near its close, when the two great parties 
of the country became embodied and powerful in the associations known 
as the Escoceses and Yorkinos, or, Scotch and York lodges. 

The Escoceses, or Scotch party, was decidedly in favor of the establish- 
men* of a political power with central strength, if not, indeed, of bringing 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 337 

the country back again to its ancient allegiance. Its rival party, or 
Yorkino, meanwhile, was as positively opposed to all foreign interference, 
central rule and monarchial tendencies, as it was devoted to Federation 
and Republicanism. 

The influence of State Rights and Federation were known to be hostile 
to the centralization and efiicacy of arbitrary powers ; and there is but 
little doubt, that the aristocratic faction was favored in its operations by 
those European powers and their emissaries, who sought to gain by intrigue 
an influence on this Continent which they had lost in the recent wars. 
It is alleged, by some, that this was perceived by the Minister who so ably 
represented us at that period, with the new Republic ; and he is charged 
with having procured the charter for the opposing lodge, and with foster- 
ing and stimulating the designs and leaders of the democratic party. It 
is not necessary for me to treat of the propriety with which a foreign 
Minister could interfere in the domestic strifes of the Government to which 
he is accredited, nor do I believe that Mr. Poinsett ever stepped beyond 
the limits of his official duties and rights in regard to these matters in 
Mexico. Yet I cannot but think it was both his right as a man, and 
his duty as a diplomatist, (faithfully representing a republican nation 
near another Republic on the American Continent,) to do all in his power, 
lawfully, to cherish and vivify the spirit of freedom in the country to 
which he was accredited, and to overcome the efforts of European powers 
for the establishment of a state of things directly hostile to American 
principles and interests. It is unnecessary for me to pursue this subject 
further, as the wisdom of such diplomacy must be evident to all who 
know the difficulties and temptations with which a young, inexperienced, 
and distracted Republic is surrounded at the outset of its political ex- 
istence. 

But the term of Victoria's administration was not to end without some 
signal opposition to himself personally. In December, 1827, General 
Bravo denounced the President as connected with the Yorkinos. He took 
arms against the Government, proclaimed himself in open revolt, and 
was speedily subdued and banished ; but the seed of discord had been al- 
ready deeply sown ; and in the election which subsequently occurred, 
Gomez Pedraza, who was the candidate of the Escoceses, obtained the Pres- 
idency by a majority of but two votes over Guerrero, his competitor. 
Thus, amid the most angry excitement of embittered parties, terminated 
the first chief magistracy of the new Republic. 

It should be recollected, that during this administration Iturbide had re- 
turned from his banishment, and was shot almost immediately after land- 
ing. It is the general impression, that this act was not desired by the 
Government, and that the execution of the illustrious patriot was alone 
owing to the indiscreet zeal of his captor. 

Scarcely had Pedraza been elected, when symptoms of discontent were 
manifested among the liberals. The Yorkinos had been foiled most un- 
22 



339 MEXICO. 

expectedly, and by a mere nominal majority ; but they were not content 
to bow with submission, like good republicans, to the will of the people 
expressed according to the forms of a Federal Constitution. The conse- 
quence was, that before the new President had taken his seat, Santa Anna 
made his appearance on the political stage, and, under the plea that the 
election of Pedraza had been produced by fraud, '^ pronounced^' against 
him at the head of a small but determined force. The movement became 
speedily popular. The prejudices of the Creoles, or natives, against the 
Spaniards and their aristocratic partisans, were skillfully played upon, 
and the ^meute resulted on the 4th of December, 1828, in the " Pronun- 
ciamiento of the Acordada " in favor of the defeated candidate, Guer- 
rero. The City of Mexico was given up to a mob ; the Parian was 
sacked ; the defenceless Spaniards suffered from the resentment of an 
infuriate populace ; and Pedraza (abandoning the post of Minister of War 
to his opponent, Santa Anna,) fled from the country, and took refuge in 
the United States. On the first of January, 1829, Congress declared 
Guerrero to ha.ve been duly elected President ; — Bustamante was named 
Vice-President ; and the government went once more into quiet operation 
under the old Constitution. 

The ease with which the supreme authority could be destroyed or 
established by a bold and daring chieftain, had been now most fatally 
demonstrated for the future peace of the country ; and ambitious spirits 
were not long wanting to take advantage of this dangerous facility. 
Scarcely had Guerrero been seated in the presidential chair, and signal- 
ized his duplicity by desiring the recall of Mr. Poinsett, when Bustamante, 
who came into power with Mm as Vice-President, organized the army at 
Jalapa, and upon some trifling pretext, ^^ pronounced'^ in that city. Santa 
Anna at first feebly opposed this movement, but at length joined the dis- 
contented General. The revolution was made effectual ; — Guerrero was 
overthrown, and fled ; — the Vice-President. Bustamante, assumed the reins 
of government, and under his administration, the Spanish power was finally 
subdued by the victory gained by Santa Anna over Barradas, on the 11th 
of September, 1829, at Tampico. The unfortunate Guerrero was in the 
meantime taken prisoner, and, in 1831, was executed for treason. 

After this, tranquillity prevailed until 1832, when Santa Anna — who in 
fact had been the author of the present dynasty — suddenly '^^ pronounced" 
against the Ministers, and soon afterward against the President himself, 
at Vera Cruz. A battle was fought at Tolomi, and the insurgents de- 
feated ; — but he retired again to Vera Cruz, strengthened his power by 
forces from some other Departments, declared himself in favor of Pedraza, 
(whom he had driven out of the country two years previous,) entered into a 
convention with Bustamante at Zavaleta, in December of 1832, and 
— having dispatched a vessel for the exiled Pedraza — brought him back 
to the Republic and sent him to the Capital, to serve out the remaining 
three months of his unexpired term ! 



POLITICAL HISTORY. 339 

The first act of the restored President was to eulogize his foe and friend, 
and his last, (in the brief power allowed him,) to exercise his influence in 
controlling an election to the chief magistracy, by which this skillful 
Warwick was elevated to supreme power on the 16th of May, 1833. 

Santa Anna was not, however, to be safe from the perils that had beset 
his predecessors. He had given a fearful example of discontent to the 
country, and — notwithstanding his known and dreaded vigor — in the first 
year of his presidency, a ^^Fronundamiento,''^ (central in its character,) 
was made by Escalada, at Morelia, in favor of the '■'fueros " of the church 
and army. About this period he was proclaimed Dictator by the army 
at Cuautla — an office he refused to accept — and, immediately marching 
a sufficient force against the insurgents, he suppressed the revolutionary 
movement at Guanajuato. 

In 1835, there was another ^^Pronundamienio'^ against the Government 
in Zacatecas, which was quelled ; and, in a few days after the victory 
over General Garcia, there was another declaration, known in the history 
of the country as the " Plan of Toluca," which is generally believed to 
have been favored by the President himself. 

This Plan struck a fatal blow at the Federative System. It destroyed 
the Constitution of 1824; — it vested the power in a Central Government; 
abolished the Legislatures of the States, and changed those States into 
Departments, under the control of military commandants and governors, 
who were responsible to the chief authorities of the nation alone. This 
was the last great act in Mexico of the military President, and its princi- 
ples formed the basis of the " Central Constitution," adopted in 1836, 
in lieu of the Federal Constitution of 1824. 

While these things were occurring, the revolt in Texas had become so 
formidable, that it appeared necessary for the Mexican Government to 
strike a decisive blow against the rebellious province. Accordingly, as 
soon as Santa Anna had assured himself of the establishment of Central- 
ism, he departed with the flower of his troops to reconquer Texas. The 
fate of that memorable expedition is too well known to require notice in 
this sketch. The regulator of his own country and the conqueror of the 
Spaniards, lost both his liberty and his reputation in a conflict against 
another race at the battle of San Jacinto ; and it is perhaps owing to the 
private interposition of our own President, and the popularity, at that 
period, of Houston, that his life was preserved from a population infuriate 
with the memory of massacres that emulated the butcheries of Calleja. 
But he was both spared and liberated, and returned, through the United 
States, to his farm at Manga de Clavo, where, suffering under exceeding 
unpopularity with his countrymen, he buried himself for a long period in 
obscurity and retirement. 

When Santa Anna departed from the Capital on this luckless adven- 
ture, he left the administration in the hands of General Barragan, as 
President. This person, however, shortly died, and the government was 
22* 



340 MEXICO. 

conducted subsequently by Coro, until Bustamante (whose friends had 
taken advantage of Santa Anna's misfortunes and unpopularity, to elect 
him to the Presidency under the new Constitution,) returned from France, 
where he had resided since his defeat. 

Almost immediately after the accession of this distinguished personage 
to the chief magistracy, there were imeutes in favor of Federation, and 
Gomez Farias, who was then in prison ; but these, and a number of other 
trifling conspiracies, were at once put down by Pedraza and Rodriguez. 

The most brilliant, however, of all the exploits for the emancipation of 
Mexico, occurred in 1 838, under the unfortunate Mexia. He advanced 
toward the Capital with a brave band of patriots, and was encountered in 
the neighborhood of Puebla by Valencia and Santa Anna, who, creeping 
forth from his retreat to regain popularity by some striking exploit, was 
weakly trusted by the man he had already so often foiled. Mexia lost 
the day, and with scarce time left for prayer or communication with his 
family, was shot, by order of his conqueror, on the field of battle.* 

In the winter of that year, the port of Vera Cruz was blockaded by 
the French squadron, and the town attacked by the troops. This again 
afforded an opportunity to the victim of San Jacinto to repair his tarnished 
reputation by military glory, and to regain his standing with the army. 
Accordingly he at once repaired to the port, took command of the troops, 
and, while following the French, as they retreated to their boats, received 
a wound, which has lamed him for life. But this loss was a gain to the 
daring chieftain ; and well-worded proclamations, and a discreet use of 
the amputated limb, (even to the present day, as we have seen in a prece- 
ding letter,) have served to restore him to the authority he so ingloriously 
lost in 1836.t 

Yet he did not think that the time for him to appear again prominently 
on the political arena had then arrived, and he consequently remained 
quiet during the ^^Pronunciamiento" of the Federalists at the Palace of Mex- 
ico, on the 15th of July, of 1840, under Urrea, which was completely 
suppressed by Valencia, although President Bustamante, was at one time 
a prisoner in the hands of the insurgents. 

In August of 1841, however, a different state of things existed ; and it 
was then that the last (it is to be hoped) of the sanguinary revolutions 
which have distracted Mexico, broke out. This insurrection was announced 
by the ^^Pronunciamiento" of Paredes in Guadalaxara, and was quickly 

* " You are right," said he to Santa Anna, when he was refused a respite ; " I would not have granted yea. 
half the time, had I conquered ! " 

t Santa Anna causes the 5th of December to be celebrated in Mexico, as a day of Victory over the French ! 
They tell a story of him at Vera Cruz, which is illustrative of his cunning. One morning, early, during the 
siege, a party of French soldiers had made its way into the town and got possession of the house in which Santa 
Anna was lodged. As soon as he was disturbed by the noise of the troops, he jumped out of bed, and in his 
shirt and trowsers, attempted to escape. On the stairs he met the soldiers, headed by the Prince dp Joivmllr, 
who immediately demanded, " Where is Santa Anna ■?" " There," said he, pointing over his shoulder with 
his thumb to a room in which another General was quietly sleeping. " And who are you ■?" said the Prince • 
" Oh ! nobody," said Santa Anna, " nobody but a servant of the house." The Prince pushed on in a hurry 
to secure the General, wliile the General as hurriedly pushed for the door ! 



CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC, 341 

enforced by Valencia and Lombard ini in the Capital, and Santa Anna 
himself, at Vera Cruz. Its causes were various and indefinite ; — but the 
chief matters of popular discontent, viz., the consumption duty of 15 per 
cent., and the Constitution of '36, were entirely beyond the control of the 
existing administration. The "jPromiwaawiien/os" of the Generals were suc- 
ceeded by a month's contest in the streets of Mexico ; a bombardment of 
the Capital ; some harmless conflicts between the rival troops on the adja- 
cent plainsj-^and the drama was ended by the downfall of Bustamante, the 
elevation of Santa Anna to the Provisional Presidency, and the " Plan of 
Tacubaya," (as a substitute for the Constitution,) by the seventh article of 
which, he was invested with dictatorial powers. 

It was provided by this Plan, that a Congress should assemble in 1842, 
to form a new Constitution for the government of the Republic ; and, 
accordingly, in June of that year, a corps of patriotic citizens, chosen iy 
the peopIe,.met for that purpose in the Capital. This Congress was greeted 
by the Provisional President, in a speech, strongly declaring his par- 
tiality for a firm and central Government, but intimating, nevertheless, his 
entire disposition to acquiesce in the final decision of that intelligent body. 

Yet, in December of last year, after two attempts to form a system that 
would accommodate the wishes of the country and the administration, — 
the Provisional President, (in spite of the frank disclosure of his intention 
to submit to the popular will,) dissolved the Congress without authority, 
and convened a Junta of Notables for the purpose of proposing a new 
Constitution. The result of the deliberations of that body were, the 
"Bases of. Political Organization of the Mexican Republic,"* pro- 
claimed on the 13th of June, 1843. 

By the first Title of this Instrument, it is declared that Mexico adopts 
the form of a Popular Representative system for its government ; that the 
territory shall be divided into Departments ; that the political power essen- 
tially resides in the Nation, and that the Holy Roman Catholic and Apos- 
tolic creed is professed and protected to the exclusion of all others. 

The second Title declares that slavery is not to be permitted ; — that 
no one is to be molested for his opinions, or called on for contributions, 
except such as are regularly imposed by law. 

The third Title specifies who are Mexican citizens, their rights and 
obligations. Citizens are — all who are born within the Mexican territory, 
or beyond it, of a Mexican father ; — all who were in Mexico in 1821, 
and have not renounced their allegiance ; — all who were natives of Cen- 
tral America when it belonged to the Mexican nation, and since then have 
continued to reside in Mexico ; — and, lastly, all who have obtained or shall 
obtain letters of naturalization. 

In order to enjoy fully the rights of Mexican citizenship, (in voting,) the 
following qua ifications are required. Being Mexicans, they must be 
eighteen years of age and married, or twenty-one years, if not married ; 
and they must enjoy an annual income .of at least two hundred dollars, 

* This is the title of ihe system. It is not called a Constitution. 



;H2 MEXICO. 

derived from actual capital, industry, or honest personal labor. In addition 
to these requirements, no one will be allowed to vote, after the year 1850, 
unless he is able to read and write. 

The rights of citizenship are suspended (among other disqualifications,) 
by domestic servitude, habitual intemperance, taking of religious vows, 
Iceeping of prohibited gaming-houses, and fraudulqnt bankruptcy. 



The Legislative power is defined by the fourth Title. This power is to 
reside in a Congress, divided into a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. 

The Chamber of Deputies is to be composed of individuals elected by 
the Electoral Colleges of the Departments, in a manner which will be 
hereafter specified, and in the ratio of one for seventy thousand inhabitants. 
The Departments which have not so many residents shall, nevertheless, 
be entitled to a Deputy, and there shall likewise be one for every frac- 
tion over thirty-five thousand. It is required, that a Deputy shall be 
thirty years of age, and possessed of an annual income of twelve hundred 
dollars. A moiety of the Chamber is to be renewed every two years. 

The Senate is to be composed of sixty-three mem'bers, two-thirds of 
whom are to be elected by the Departmental Assemblies, and the other 
third by the Chamber of Deputies, the President of the Republic, and the 
Supreme Court of Justice. One-third of this body is to be renewed bien- 
nially. The Departmental Assemblies are to select five persons from 
each of the classes of agriculturists, miners, proprietors or merchants, and 
manufacturers ; the rest of the quota to be chosen by them from distin- 
guished individuals. Those who are to be appointed by the President and 
the Supreme Court, are to be taken from among individuals who have 
signalized themselves in the civil, military, and ecclesiastical career. 
Senators must possess an annual income of two thousand dollars. 

The Congress, so constituted, will sit twice a year for the space of three 
months, commencing its terms on the 1st of January and 1st of July Its 
members are not allowed to obtain place or preferment from the Govern- 
ment, except for the most imperative reasons. 

A third body, called the Permanent Deputation, is to be formed by this 
Congress, and will be composed of four members of the Senate and five 
of the Cham.ber, whose term of office shall continue until the next meet- 
ing of the National Assembly and the election of their successors. The 
duty of this Permanent Deputation is to call extra sessions of Congress 
whenever they may be decreed by the Government, and to receive the 
certificates of the election of President of the Republic, Senators, and 
Ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice. 

The fifth Title defines the Executive Power, which is confided for five 
years to a President, Avho must be a Mexican by birth, in the full enjoy- 
ment of all his rights of citizenship, more than forty years of age, and a 
resident of the Republic at the time of his election. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC. 343 

Among the numerous duties prescribed for him by the Bases, are the 
following : 

To impose fines not exceeding $500 on those who disobey his orders, and 
are wanting in due respect and obedience to the laws. 

To see that prompt justice is administered ; to visit the tribunals whenever 
he is informed of delays, or that prejudicial disorders exist in those bodies ; 
to require that a preference be given to causes concerning the public welfare, 
and to exact information touching the same whenever it may be deemed 
proper. 

To object (" hacer olservaciones^') within thirty days (after audience of 
the Council, which will be hereafter described,) to the projects of laws 
approved by the Chambers, suspending their operation in the mean time. 
If the project be reapproved, the Government may suspend it until the 
near termination of the period when the Chambers can consider the sub- 
ject. If it be then approved by two- thirds of both bodies, the Govern- 
ment will be obliged to publish it as a law. If the thirty days terminate 
after the regular period of the session, the Government is to direct its 
observations to the Permanent Deputation ; and if the term pass without 
any action by the President, the law will be considered as sanctioned, and 
published without delay. 

The President may declare war, and dispose of the armed forces of the 
nation as he sees fit, according to the objects of their institution. He may 
expel from the Republic unnaturalized foreigners, who are deemed dan- 
gerous ; and he may name orators from the Council to defend the opinions 
of the Government before the Chambers. 

The Council of the Government is to be composed of seventeen per- 
sons named by the President, whose tenure of office is perpetual, and 
whose duties are to give their aid to the Govei'nment in all matters required 
in these Bases, and others upon which it shall be proper to consult them. 
It is their privilege, moreover, to propose to the Government all regula- 
tions and systems they may deem necessary for the public good in every 
branch of the administration. 

By the sixth Title, the Judicial Power, of the country is deposited in a 
Supreme Court, in Departmental Tribunals, and others already estab- 
lished by law. There is to be a perpetual Court Martial, chosen by the 
President. 

The Government of the Departments is regulated by the seventh 
Title. 

Each Department is to have an Assembly composed of not more than 
eleven, nor less than seven, who must be twenty-five years of age, and pos- 
sessed of the qualifications required for a Deputy to Congress. Their 
term of office is four years. 

The powers of these Assemblies are very simple and irresponsible, 
and scarcely amount to more than a species af municipal police, the whole 



344 MEXICO. 

of which is subject to the review of the President of the Republic, and 
of a Governor appointed by the President. 

Title eighth, relates to the Electoral Power. 

The population of Mexico is divided into sections of Jive hundred irihab' 
itants for the election of primary Juntas, and the citizens M'ill vote, by 
ticket, for one elector for every jive hundred inhabitants. These primary 
electors will name the secondary, who are to form the Electoral College 
of the Department in the ratio of one secondary elector for every twenty 
of the primary. This Electoral College, again, will elect the Deputies to 
Congress, and the members of the Departmental Assembly ; and its mem- 
bers must have an income qualification of at least five hundred dollars 
per annum. 

On the 1st of November of the year previous to the expiration of the 
Presidential term, each Departmental Assembly, by a majority of votes, 
or, in case of a tie, by lot, will select a person as President for the sue- 
ceeding five years. There is no clause in the Instrument limiting the 
term or terms for which an individual may be elected, or prescribing a 
mode of supplying the vacancy occasioned by his death, resignation, or 
incompetency. 



Such is an outline of the chief features of this remarkable Document. 
At its opening, it declares the establishment of a Popular Representative 
Government, yet nothing can be less popular in its provisions than the 
Instrument itself. The people are divided into classes of Citizens and 
Inhabitants. Property qualifications are created, while domestic servants, 
and the clergy, (no matter how honest, excellent and virtuous they may 
be,) are disfranchised in the same category with gamblers and dvunkards, 
though they possess both the required income and education. 

The opinion of the people is not to be taken directly by vote in regard 
to the men who are to represent them in the Departments and in Con- 
o-ress, or to govern them in the Presidency ; but their sentiments are to 
be filtered through three bodies of Electors before their representation is 
finally effected. And, last of all, the supreme power is vested in a Cen- 
tral Government, while the people are left with scarce a shadow of au- 
thority over their homes and interests in the Departments. 

It will be at once observed, that President Santa Anna has thus sue- 
ceeded in enforcing his favorite scheme of Centralism. He must, there- 
fore, become directly responsible for its results, whether for evil or for 
good, and the glory or disgrace of his country, in the estimation of all 
foreign countries, must alight upon his head alone. 



POWER OF THE PRESIDENT 345 

Qualifications, property, and the intrenchments of power, fortify him 
on every side. He is very distant from the people. The four millions 
of Mexican Indians, (scarcely one of whom ever had an annual income 
of two hundred dollars in his life,) must always be unrepresented in the 
Government. No hope is proposed to them of advancement or regeneration ; 
while the Chief Magistrate, himself, is surrounded by a complicated ma- 
chine, that wants every element of democratic simplicity, and possesses 
a thousand inlets to corruption and mismanagement. . If it operates well, it 
secures strong central authority. If it operates badly, it must break to 
pieces like some cumbrous engine destroyed by the confusion and multi- 
plicity of its forces. 

In either event, the President may deem himself safe. If the Bases 
succeed in giving peace, progress, and prosperity to Mexico, he will have 
the honor of the movement. But if he finds that they are not efficacious, 
or are likely to injure his schemes, it will be a task neither of difficulty nor 
danger, in so complicated a maze, to loosen some trifling screw, or throw 
some petty wheel from its axle, by which the whole must be disarranged 
without the responsibility of even its humblest engineers. 

So long as the President rules under an instrument which gives him 
complete control of the army, the power to declare war, entire patronage 
of the civil list, the right to impose fines, veto laws, and interfere with the 
judiciary ; — -he will possess an authority too great to be intrusted to any 
one individual in our day and generation. 

In the preceding sketch of Mexican Republicanism for the last twenty 
years, you will observe that I have not aimed to give an extended notice of 
the various leaders who placed themselves at the head of different move, 
ments. I have not done so, because I perceived no evidence of a progressive 
principle throughout the revolutions. The Government has generally 
been strong enough to suppress all disturbances but those that were coun- 
tenanced by Santa Anna. With a true love of freedom among a few, a 
scramble for power among others, and carelessness or supineness among 
the great body of the people, — the country has gone on blundering from 
revolution to revolution, without advancing nearer to liberty and enlight- 
enment than did the Barons of old when they sallied forth on feudal 
forays against each other. 



LETTER XXXIII. 



POLITICAL PROSPECTS OF MEXICO. 



There are in Mexico but two important classes of people, without any 
numerous and distinctive body of enlightened lawyers or merchants, who, 
together with the educated and respectable mechanics and agriculturists, 
would counterbalance the influence of the church and the army. 

Almost every respectable man you meet on the streets, bears some 
military insignia upon his person ; and when the troops are abroad, you 
will frequently find them commanded by beardless urchins of not more 
than fifteen or sixteen years. In this manner, important families and 
extensive connections are secured by a patronage which amounted, in the 
year 1841, (as we have seen,) to the enormous sum of eight millions of 
dollars. 

The other important class (but with diminished power,) is composed 
of the clergy, who, — you will remember from the statistics already recorded 
in these letters, — have accumulated a large share of the real property of 
the Republic, in addition to the immense personal wealth that swells their 
coffers. 

Thus, between the army and the church, (one by the direct influence 
of authority and force, and the other by as dreaded spiritual weapons,) 
the whole nation is surrendered to but two influences, while the body of 
the people is too ignorant and disunited, and the men of wealth and edu- 
cation are too supine or peaceful, to interfere in behalf of the demo- 
cratic progress of their country. You are warned of this double domin- 
ion by the constant sound of the drum and the bell, which ring in your 
ears from morn to midnight and drown the sounds of industry and labor. 

It will be at once perceived, that, in such a state of society, there are 
none either to express a disinterested public opinion in favor of really 
free institutions, or to sustain them with manly energy, 

I confess, that I have studied the history of her civil commotions without 
satisfaction, in seeking for the causes of this political condition of Mexico. 
They have always appeared to me (as I before said,) to be entirely ob- 
jectless, and rather momentary disorders than well devised revolutions. 
They have been utterly unprogressive, and never enforced or decided a 
principle. 

The result is, that in such a bungling system of strife, the people 
have had neither peace nor advancement, while incessant commotion 



CAUSES OF NATIONAL ADVERSITY. 347 

has disturbed the healthful action of internal police, and consequently- 
impaired the morals of the masses. 

It must be remembered that when Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke, 
it was at first rather to get rid of her rulers than of her system ; — more 
to oveithrow foreign tyranny and colonial subjection, than to establish a 
Republic. The original Plan of Iguala, to which Iturbide adhered, pro- 
posed the offer of the Mexican Crown to Ferdinand, as a separate sove- 
reignty from that of Spain. Events prevented the fulfillment of this 
scheme ; and as soon as Iturbide became successful in his military career, 
he influenced his soldiery (contrary to the wishes of the people, as ex- 
pressed in Congress,) to proclaim him Emperor. 

Had there been intelligence, virtue, and power enough among the 
masses to resist this encroachment in the bud ; or, had Iturbide imitated 
Washington, in the possession of a limited authority together with great 
popular confidence, he might have laid deeply and firmly the foundation 
of a Republican Constitution. The people would have bestirred them- 
selves liberally in systems of National Education and improvement, and 
a free Press would have completed the project by disseminating the prin- 
ciples of freedom to every nook and corner of the country. Instead of 
this, however, the mass of good and educated men — unaided by liberal 
example from the Government — found it impossible to unleaven the mob 
of Spanish monarchism, or, to teach it to govern itself. Party spirit 
began to rage without stint and for feigned objects. The contest Avas be- 
tween the possessors of power and the aspirants. The Yorkinos repre- 
sented or pretended to represent the republican or advance party. The 
Escoceses the aristocratic, or antagonists of a too liberal grant of popu- 
lar rights and privileges. In this manner the whole country has been 
converted, by turns for twenty years, into a camp or battle-field. The army 
(without a foreign war,) is regarded as a separate body, created and sup- 
ported — not to guard the nation against invading enemies — but to protect 
the Government against the people ; and the church, in the meanwhile, 
naturally leans in favor of that powerful support which preserves its pro- 
perty and its Orders. 

A long continued disturbance of the nation, like this, has of course 
checked industry and prevented emigration from abroad. It has made 
agriculture but a menial toil ; — it has created an aristocracy of arms and 
spiritual power ; — it has covered the people with foreign debt and domes- 
tic embarrassment ; — it has taught the masses to suffer control and to 
lose independence ; — it has forced the Government to mortgage every re- 
source at ruinous interest ; — it has fostered the most extensive political 
corruption that ever beggared a nation, and has afforded an opportunity, 
amid all this turmoil, to successive bands of ambitious plunderers to grow 
rich on the public spoil. 

The lesson of chicanery and corruption taught to its colony by old 
Spain, — through her injustice and oppression, — became a principle of ac- 
tion, and duplicity was raised to the rank of a virtue. 



34S MEXICO. 

Nations, habituated to be ruled for centuries, cannot rule themselves in 
a minute. People must learn to think for themselves, and, in order to do 
so, must be instructed. Agriculture must be cherished, and farmers made 
to elevate themselves in society ; — to become rich by their toil, and culti- 
vated by study. The mechanical class must become ambitious of being 
something more than the mere servant of the capitalist's wants ; — in fine, 
all classes must shake off that lethargy, which, arising either from old 
habits, or an enervating climate, makes them the servants of the passing 
hour, and content with bare existence. 

As the agriculture of the country is chiefly in the hands of rich pro- 
prietors and of the church, that branch of independence has no general 
influence. The mass of the mechanical class is exceedingly poor, and 
indescribably ignorant ; and large portions of other classes are avaricious, 
gambling and bigoted, while over all extends that spiritual power, which 
still exercises an influence little inferior to the army. 

Such a population, — ignorant, poor and servile, — cares but little for 
politics; and it is a mercy to rule them wisely and justly. If wages 
are good, and crops plentiful, the farmer and mechanic are contented, 
provided the taxes are not high. In a soil which yields so readily and 
abundantly, and a temperature so genied, men are naturally indolent. It 
is easier, thus provided with the necessaries of life, to be governed than 
to govern, — especially, if they do not feel the pressure of the crown, or 
the blows of the sceptre. They are, therefore, docile, quiet, and ready 
to pass from one chief to another without inquiry. In addition to this, it 
should always be remembered, that Mexico is of all civilized countries 
perhaps the least accessible, both from abroad and in its interior; — its 
coasts ravaged by dangerous fevers ; its territory piled up on an isthmus 
between two great Continents on the north and south, and two great oceans on 
the east and west. It may be literally called a nation hanging on the sides 
of a mountain ; the Atlantic thundering at its base on the one side, and 
the Pacific on the other ; without steamers, railways, or means for the 
easy transmission of papers — by which not only the news of the day and 
of the whole world may be transmitted to every cabin of its forests ; 
but by which the people themselves may travel, easily and cheaply, and 
thus become knit together by friendship, kindred, and kindly intercourse. 
It is an aflTair of as much importance to make a journey of a hundred 
miles,* as it was with us during the Revolution ; for not only are they 
obliged to travel in slow coaches, over bad roads on mules and horses, 
but they must be accompanied by a horde of servants and sumpter ani- 
mals, a mountain of bedding, baggage and cooking utensils, and, besides, 
be guarded for fear of the robbers ! Thus, while there is no extensive in- 
tercommunication, there is less perhaps from abroad ; and, of course, the 
opinions of Europe and America can have but little influence on a nation 

Last year only eleven hundred and nine peisons arrived as passengers at Vera Cruz, and four hundred and 
fifty-nine left that port, so that the average gain of population by emigration, was only six hundred and fourteen 
through that city. 



CAUSES OF NATIONAL ADVERSITY. 349 

so imprisoned, both by the nature of its territory, and its own mismanage- 
ment. 

I have thus spoken of some of the causes of Mexican adversity"; let 
me go further. It has heen a difficult thing to make the Mexicans believe 
that they possessed any other kind of wealth hut money or mines. It was 
difficult to make them understand that they were poor, in the midst of gold 
and silver, and that the wealthiest nations were England and Holland, 
the one without a precious niine in her soil, the other redeemed from the 
washes of the sea. 

In 1833, they were at the expense of $17,000,000 for their army, and 
in 1841, of $8,000,000, with only between seven and eight millions of 
people, and no foreign war ; and while they were furnishing from their mines 
the circulating medium of the world, they thought themselves exceedingly 
successful, if they could borrow money at an interest of fifty or even sixty 
per cent. 

Again, by the reduction of the export duty, on the precious metals, 
to three per cent., and the lax administration of the Custom Houses 
in the year from 1821 to 1822, $66,000,000 passed through the ports 
regularly to foreign nations — besides what was secretly taken from the 
country — which was thus depleted, in one twelvemonth, of a mass of wealth 
that would have assured it prosperity for years. The consequence was 
a paper money system, that soon lost its credit, and produced the most 
disastrous results. 

Again, they allowed no liberty of worship. They forbade foreigners 
to acquire real estate or freehold interests of any kind ; — they clogo-ed 
their naturalization laws with odious incumbrances to emigrants ; — they 
threw a thousand obstacles in the way of the marriage and even burial 
of foreigners; — and, as to the "protection" afforded by their tribunals, it 
was too notoriously infamous to be patiently spoken of. ^ 

Again, after severe losses by the export of the precious metals, a 
short-sighted policy was adopted by legislators in regard to commerce. 
With fair promises and plausible declarations, they professed a spirit of 
"free trade," while, at the same moment, there was no invention that 
ingenuity could devise, which they did not throw in the way of mer- 
chants. They commenced the prohibitory system. They imposed duties 
to the amount of double or triple the value of imports, allowing 
but short indulgence on the bonds ; and the result was, that there were 
no cash sales. This operated as a direct bounty in favor of contraband, 
not only^in the importation of merchandise, but in the export of silver ; at 
the same time that by these high duties the people were indirectly taxed 
to an exorbitant degree, and the nation was deprived of a large revenue, 
which she might have derived from moderate levies that would not have 
tempted to illicit trade. 

We are taught to regard this as an era of regeneration in the Govern- 
ment of Mexico. 



350 MEXICO. 

General Santa Anna was the individual who struck the first blow 
against the power of Itiirbide, and it is to be hoped that his heart has not 
grown cold to liberty as it Ixas grown in years. 

Now. although it is true that the people are usually but slightly inte- 
rested in the pronnnciamentos, (which are made by regiments or officers of 
the army,) yet, I believe that the emeutes of 1841 were decidedly popular 
with the masses, and chiefly so, on account of an internal consumption 
duty, which they found extremely onerous. It must be said, in justice to 
Bustamante and his cabinet, that they too were opposed to it; but find- 
ing Congress resolved to continue its enforcement, they felt bound to sus- 
tain the law as long as they were its ministers under a Constitution. 

At the outset of his administration, in September, 1841, Santa Anna 
had the most extraordinary difficulties to contend with. An army of near 
thirty thousand men was on foot, and to be maintained ; — the officers of 
the Government were extremely numerous, and to be paid ; — there were 
dissensions among his troops, and jealousy of his power ; — the whole 
country was in a political ferment ; — the copper currency (the only cur- 
rency of the masses,) was depreciated more than fifty per cent. ; — and, 
to crown the catalogue of misfortunes, when he entered the Palace there 
was not a single dollar in the Treasury ! 

Still, he was unappalled by these amazing difficulties. He supported 
his army, paid his clerks, quelled all dissensions among the troops and 
officers, pacified the country, called in the copper coin and issued 
new, dispersed a Congress whose Constitution he disliked— and, for 
more than two years, has held the Supreme power of his country in de- 
fiance of rebellious chiefs and angry demagogues. Nor were his efforts 
confined to his domestic relations alone, during this stormy period. By 
his skill and energy he managed to avert the horrors of a foreign war, 
and to preserve amicable intercourse with all those powers to whom 
Mexico bears the relation of a debtor. 

Having thus passed the most trying portion of his administration, and 
established a system of government which can scarcely be called consti- 
tutional, it is his first duty to administer that government with a strong 
but patriotic arm. He must insure peace to his country at all hazards, — 
even if that peace be eflfected by despotism. He must end, for ever, that 
rebellious spirit in the army, which is so easl'iy excited by every ambi- 
tious leader who obtains a momentary influence, and embroils the whole 
nation in order to elevate him to power. 

Foreigners, who are ignorant of the trials and turbulence by which he 
is surrounded, and the efforts that are often made in Mexico to defeat the 
most patriotic intentions, may call him a tyrant ; but it is, nevertheless, his 
duty to persevere enduringly until he establishes permanent tranquillity, 
under which alone his country can advance. 



DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCH PROPERTY. 351 

There is one thing which, I confess, I desire particularly to see Gene- 
ral Santa Anna efTect ; and that is, an act for which the reign of Henry 
Vin. is chiefly commendable. I mean the seizure and distribution of the 
church property. 

It is true, that the President may have yet to fear a power which 
the brotherhood possess, not only over the common people, but over the 
very common materials of which the army is composed ; — but dangerous 
diseases require dangerous remedies, and a bold and trustful hand to apply 
them. Henry VIII. did this in an essentially Catholic country and in a 
most superstitious age, and it has been recently effected in Spain and 
Havana. In order to effect this object, successfully, and in the most 

beneficial manner, not only to the church but to the mass of the people, 
it would be well for him, in his present increase of the army, to press 
into the service every idler, vagabond or Upero, with whom the city and 
the suburbs swarm ; and after due drilling, and accustoming them to 
military obedience, to colonize these troops in the different parts of the 
Republic, giving, as bounties for their services, portions of the estates 
now held by the priesthood, reserving the rest for sale at moderate 
prices to the Indians who labor for the church. In doing this he would 
benefit the nation by bringing a large property into the common weal, 
and by giving employment to thousands, whose utter vagrancy and vaga- 
bondism are unparalleled in any other part of the world. 

The territory thus acquired, and sold or distributed, — what a picture of 
dawning civilization would spread over the land ! The half-starved slaves 
of the church, and of the large proprietors, erected suddenly into manli- 
ness, would stand up feeling that they were truly human, and a speedy 
intellectual progress would commence with the acquirement of property. 

The increased productions of the soil would naturally require new 
markets — markets would produce new roads — new means of transporta- 
tion — new inventions of agricultural implements — new wants in articles 
of taste, luxury and refinement. Men would begin to travel on the new 
roads. Mexico would become acquainted with herself. The idle spirit 
created by lavish productions of the mines, would be aroused from its 
lethargy. There would be a gradual infusion of foreign blood, making 
her citizens emulous of other nations ; and thus, in a ^ew years, Mexico 
would behold her own ships bearing abroad her own products — would 
learn that she had within her soil other sources of wealth besides her ores 
— would attract back some of the millions she has furnished the world for 
the last three hundred years, and, in fine, become in every respect inde- 
pendent. 

These are beautiful objects to present for a patriot's ambition. If he 
possesses the power and influence, which I think he does, Santa Anna can 
effect all this if he lives, for he has talents and energy competent to the 
task ; but if he fails and assumes the Imperial purple, I shall be as mis- 
taken as I shall feel grieved to see so glorious a chance for a splendid 
immortality lost by a hero. 



352 MEXICO. 

To the reorganization, then, of his country, Santa Anna will, I believe, 
apply himself vigorously and he must remember, that although the 
same spirit of aristocracy; and democracy were at work in the United 
States immediately after our Revolution, that they had very different mate- 
rials to operate on. Let him but emulate the example of Washington, 
whose government, it must be acknowledged, was a strong one, during 
a long period of his Presidency. Our Constitution was then assailed by 
many perils. The inflammatory appeals of Genet ; the bitterness engen- 
dered by Jay's treaty ; Congress doubtful of its powers ; the States mutually 
distrustful ; agriculture and commerce languishing ; and an anarchical 
spirit disseminated through the land ! — Yet, above all these discords, rose 
the calm, patient and patriotic spirit of Washington, triumphant ; equally 
untempted by the blandishments of power, and unquailing before the dan- 
gerous assumption of authority. He knew the true interests of the people, 
and working for them alone, confided to the generous heart of the nation, 
to interpret his acts aright, when he seemed to trench on the Constitution. 
He dared to take an unpopular side, and thus checked Genet, — had him 
recalled, and settled the French interest and interference for ever. He 
assured peace by the sanction of Jay's treaty — and, as he says himself in 
one of his letters, " gave our country time to settle and mature its yet 
recent institutions, and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of 
strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, 
the command of its own fortunes." And yet, throughout this trial, with 
what malevolent bitterness was he assailed even by the people he had just 
freed ! Painful, indeed, is power, when it has to combat, by virtuous and 
truly patriotic efforts, the prejudices, errors, and selfishness of the multi- 
tude for which it toils ! 

It was remarked by Mr. Jefferson, in regard to our country, that " more 
than a generation will be requisite, under the administration of reasonable 
laws, favoring the progress of knowledge in the general masses of the 
people, and their habituation to an independent security of person and 
property, before they will be capable of estimating the value of freedom, 
and the necessity of a sacred adherence to the principle on which it rests 
for preservation. Instead of that liberty which takes root and growth in 
the progress of reason, if recovered hy mere force or accident, it becomes 
with an unprepared people — the tyranny, still, of the many — of the few — 
of the one."* 

It may perhaps be improper for me, after so short a residence in the 
country, to make suggestions as to the mode of its regeneration ; but there 
are many obvious improvements which must strike every one, and which 
it will not be inappropriate to mention. It seems to me to be absolutely 
necessary : — 

* Letter cxxi. 



HER PROPER POLICY. 353 

1st. To establish a constitutional Confederacy. 

2nd. To assure the people of the permanency of that institution, and of 
pacific self-government. 

3rd. To encourage emigration, holding out inducements to foreigners, 
either alluring them to acquire freehold property, or such title to real 
estate, as will confer upon them the unquestionable and undisturbed right 
to the soil for a considerable length of time. 

4th. To alter the tariff, so as to free trade from many of the ridiculous 
restrictions that impair it, and allow native industry to take its direction 
from wholesome competition, rather than dangerous legislation. 

5th. To establish a universal system of public education. 

6th. To make the Press entirely free. 

7th. To distribute the church lands among the people, or to put them 
up at such minimum prices, as will enable all classes to become free- 
holders. 

8th. Gradually to diminish the army, and colonize it. 

9th. To destroy the corruption of Government patronage, and purify the 
Customs. 

10th. To restore the mining interests, and reform the mint. 

11th. To purify the Judiciary, and cause law to be fairly administered 
between man and man. 

12th. To destroy the contraband trade entirely : and 

13th. To permit religious liberty. 

Of all these improvements, I regard the encouragement of emigration 
as the most essential, after the establishment and assurance of peace 
and religious liberty. Men will not toil to get rich, merely by virtue of 
acts of Congress. It requires the stimulus of example, and the infusion 
of a new and energetic blood into the system. 

Nor is it to be feared, that the country will be absorbed at once by for- 
eigners and foreign influence. The old staid Spanish prejudice, in favor 
of its own kindred, must be overcome. French, Irish, Dutch, Germans^ 
Spaniards, Italians, Russians, Hebrews, Greeks, Norwegians, Swedes, — 
all find representatives in our population, harmoniously acting together 
for their personal advantages and the prosperity of the common weal. 

Many years will be required to produce adequate confidence in Euro- 
peans and North Americans, to induce them to emigrate to Mexico for the 
purpose of settlement. They have had too hard a lesson in the past, to 
allow them to plunge into Mexican trade and territory again, notwith- 
standing the temptation of the country. Emigration will be by gradual 
and kindly progress, and I question much whether the feelings or the Ian- 
guage of the nation will be changed. It will be a melioration of lot, 
without an alteration of nature ; and thus, without any violent disturbance 
of the tastes, sympathies, or prejudices of the old, a new race will grow 
up with the renewed country, regenerated by the graft of foreign stamina 
and talent. 

23 



354 MEXICO. 

Mexico, must not, however, flatter herself, that the world is humbly on 
Its knees seeking admittance at her portal. Not so. She has too long 
exhibited the picture of an ill-regulated and quarrelsome household to 
tempt mankind to become her inmates, notwithstanding the allure- 
ments of her beauty. I do not believe that she will ever advance to any 
degree of greatness, without foreign emigration to her shores ; yet, in 
order to attract an influx of artisans and laborers, ripe from the improved 
fields and the skillful workshops of the rest of the world, she must prove 
herself worthy of their advent by the peaceful and prosperous future she 
promises to secure them. 

If Mexico, however, sees fit to pursue a narrow system of exclusion, 
akin to that under which she suffered while a colony of Spain, I confess 
that I behold but little prospect for her future. She will want the illustration 
of example — the virtue of emulation. As long as Santa Anna remains at 
the head of affairs, and is able to retain control over the army by pay or 
by its attachmejit to his person, — so long will that remarkable genius 
continue to preserve tranquillity. But it may be the peace of dread, — 
the subordination of fear, — the muteness of slavery. If, in the meantime, 
he chooses to bring the people gradually to a knowledge of their rights 
and a habit of self-government, while he destroys, for ever, the disturbers 
of their peace, — he will deserve a high place in the story of this Con- 
tinent's progress. 

But if, on the other hand, he is seduced by the possession of power or 
only continues to hold it for despotism and plunder ; — if the result of his 
administration is unsuccessful, and those who came into authority under 
solemn pledges to purify the Government shall prove false to their trust ; — 
if such are to be the only results of so much tumult and warfare, the 
downfall of Mexico is, indeed, close at hand ! 

The clouds of rebellion which have so long lowered over the country, 
will descend in showers of blood, — and a war of retribution, or, of castes, 
as in Guatemala, must end the circle, and give up again the fair territory 
of Mexico to the forests and its beasts or to be the spoil of some foreign 
invader. 

In every event, her fate must be most interesting to the people of the 
United States. If peace, and its train of attendant results, are to bless 
her with success and happiness, our stake and sympathy with her repub- 
lican system must be great and enduring. If anarchy, and dismember- 
ment of her States ensue, we will be burdened with a dangerous neigh- 
bor and annoying enemy. But \^ foreign occupation be attempted, the 
bloody war that must ensue, will only be ended by the expulsion of the 
intruder, and the reestablishment of republicanism on this Continent. 



RETURN HOME. 355 



CONCLUSION. 

On the 9th of November, 1842, I left the Capital in the diligence, ac- 
companied by Mr. Peyton Southall bearing dispatches to our Govern- 
ment. We had secured the attendance of a strong guard, and found 
three or four Englishmen in the coach as well accoutred as ourselves. 

I was greatly struck with the change that had been effected in every- 
thing during the last year. The road was in excellent order ; — the ruts 
in the mountain sides had been filled and levelled ; — ^the inns were re- 
fitted and neatly kept ; — ^the villages along the way-side had been cleaned 
and painted, and scarcely a vestige remained of the misery and desola- 
tion that oppressed me on my arrival. 

On the 11th, at sunset, we passed through Plan del Rio, — supped at 
Puente Nacional, — and, at daylight on the 12th, (precisely a year from 
the date of my amval,) again reached " La Villa rica de la Vera Cruz." 

After a delay of a day or two we embarked on board the U. S. Steamer 
Missouri. On the 20th, we reached the southwest pass of the Missis- 
sippi, and once more hailed with pleasure our native shores. 

I only repeat the sentiment of almost every traveller in the beautiful 
country I have been describing, when I say, — that no matter how impatient 
we may be to leave Mexico, yet, when her frontier has been passed, per. 
haps for ever, there are few who do not long to enjoy once more her 
cloudless skies, her bountiful soil, and her eternal spring ! 



23* 



APPENDIX. 

No. 1. 

A SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, THE CA- 
LIFORNIAS, AND THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES 
IN REGARD TO THE ENCROACHMENTS OF ENGLAND. 



If there is anything that peculiarly distinguishes the statesmanship of England, 
it is the prospective wisdom with which its Ministers (while guarding the mo- 
mentary interests at home,) seek new vents for the labor of its population and for 
the surplus of that population, also, when it becomes too crowded within the limits 
of the British Islands. It is the want of this vigilant policy that peculiarly char- 
acterizes our own country. In the midst of a vast territory, with ample room for 
the expansion of our inhabitants for hundreds of years, we are careless of the 
future, and we do not look with wariness to those geographical points of vantage 
around the earth of which England is gi-adually possessing herself, for the exten- 
sion and guardianship of her commercial interests. We thus permit a grasi^ing 
and ambitious rival to monopolize positions which, if they do not directly affect 
the people of our own generation, cannot fail, especially in the event of war, to 
injure and annoy our posterity. 

We have seen Great Britain add Affghanistan, Scinde, and the Chinese Empire, 
to her control within the last two years ; at the same time fixing her power 
steadily in Canada, by the suppression of every symptom of rebellious spirit. We 
have seen her firmly planted within her fortresses at Bermuda, establishing her- 
self at the Balize, and encroaching on Guatemala ; we have seen her holding the 
key of the Mediterranean at Gibraltar, and the power of the Straits at Malta and 
the Ionian Isles ; we find her in the southern Atlantic, at St. Helena, and in the 
Indian Seas at numberless islands ; and we learn that she at last pounced, with- 
out warning, on the Hawaiian group, with the same spirit that animated her con- 
quests in China, (although she has since officially disavowed the acts of her offi- 
cer.) Britain has thus encircled the globe with her power, and in this greedy acqui- 
sition of territory, and prudent husbandry of resources, our Statesmen should 
at least perceive a warning of danger from a bold and ambitious rival, if they do 
not learn a lesson which, under similar circumstances, they would be studious to 
emulate. 

The temper of our Republic is entirely too much devoted to the interests of the 
passing day. We writhe under debt, and we rush into repudiation. We suffer 
under financial distress, and we adopt some palliative expedient that saves us from 
momentary ruin. We dislike the policy of the hour, and we attribute it exclu- 
sively to Executive misrule ; and the continual distractions of the whole scheme 
of our popular government seem but to nourish an unceasing nervousness as to 
who is to rule, and who to control the national patronage. This spirit is creating 
a vacillating system, v/hich, in the end, must become nationally characteristic. If 



aOd APPENDIX 

persisted in, it will destroy all stability of purpose and extended aim of statesman- 
ship; and, while it generates a class who are willing to become pliant tools of 
power in return for official emolument, it will ultimately affect the hopes and the 
enterprise of all those industrious citizens who are willing to labor and amass 
wealtli by a slow, but safe course of national policy, wisely adopted and steadily 
pursued. 

It was not my purpose, however, to address you a homily on national politics 
when I commenced this letter ; but I thought these remarks altogether proper, as 
introductory to some account of the character, situation, and resources of the 
Hawaiian Islands and the Californias, in connection with the observations I design 
making upon our wide-spread interests in the Pacific, the Indian Seas, and the 
Western Coast of the Americas, and the encroachments of England. 

I will proceed, then, without further preface, to offer some notices of the Sand- 
wich Islands, and afterward of the Californias, showing their great importance, at 
least, to the trade of our country. 

The eight Hawaiian Islands form a volcanic group in the Pacific, lying between 
18° 50' and 22° 20' N. latitude, and 154° 53' and 160° 15' W. longitude, embracing 
a surface of rather more than six thousand square miles, of which the Island of 
Hawaii contains about four thousand. The whole population is estimated at one 
hundred and nine thousand, and although the soil is in many places not of a kindly 
character, and better adapted to grazing than agriculture, yet, in the upland valleys, 
there are extensive patches of rich land that may be easily cultivated, and capable 
of producing two crops of wheat annually. This, however, is all the better for the 
natives, as the comparative poverty of the earth requires the constant care of the 
laborer, and is, therefore, more likely to create an industrious class than in more 
prolific climates. 

On the low grounds, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cotton, mulberry and cocoa, may be 
readily produced ; and to these may be added, yams, potatoes, cocoanuts, bread- 
fruit, arrow-root, the kalo, or aurum esculentum ; and among fruits, the strawberry, 
raspberry, ohelo, melons, chirimoyas, limes, oranges, guyavas, pine-apples, grapes, 
peaches, figs, citrons, tamarinds and Italo. Oil may be easily extracted from the 
nut of the kukui tree. 

In former times, one of the chief productions of these Islands was sandal-wood, 
with which the forests abounded. In the year ending in March, 1832, three 
hundred and ninety-five tuns of this article, valued at seventy-four thousand four 
hundred and seventy-one dollars, were imported into China from various places. 
In 1816 it was the chief source of revenue, and became, also, the chief source of 
the demoralization of this group. In that year, four hundred thousand dollars 
worth was exported to the Indies, where it was used by the Hindoos in their reli- 
gious ceremonials, and by the Chinese in various manufactures of articles of 
luxury and taste. So great, however, was the demand, and so easily satisfied in the 
forests of the Sandwich Islands, that the natives were tempted by a ready sale to 
destroy almost every tree ; until, under a wiser administration of their interests, they 
entirely forbade the cutting of the timber. The wood is represented as again be- 
ginning to flourish ; so that, in the course of a few years, it will be made once 
more a source of fruitful revenue. 

Besides the sandal-wood, a number of other richly-veined woods are found, and 
are said to be as valuable for articles of furniture, as the choicest products of the Bra- 
zilian forests. 



APPENDIX. 359 

Game, poultry, wild goats and hogs, fish and wild fowl, are to be had in abund- 
ance; and, although horses have been brought in numbers from the West Coast, 
yet they always command a high price and are greatly valued. There are no ser- 
pents, and but few insects ; and, while in the interior any temperature may be 
gained by gradual elevation, even to constant snow ; — on the coast the thermometer 
averages about 79° Fahrenheit, and the climate is so salubrious, equal and mild, • 
that, in the native language, " there is no word to express the general idea of 
weather" 

The chief harbor is at Honolulu ; and the following Table will afford you some 
idea of the extent of the commerce of the Island previous to 1832. In 1823, from 
forty to sixty whalers, mostly American, were to be seen in the Isles at one time ; 
and the trade in sandal- wood was carried on briskly. 

STATEMENT 

Of the number of ships that touched at Woahoo, one of the Sandwich Islands, during 
the eight years ending with 1831, distinguishing between English and American, 
and between Whale and Merchant ships. 

ENGLISH. 



Years. 


Whalers. 
Ships. Tuns. 


Merchant. 
Ships. Tuns. 


Total. 
Ships. 


Tuns. 


1824 


15 


5,798 


2 


500 


17 


6,298 


1825 


18 


7,765 


2 


400 


20 


8,165 


1826 


11 


4,854 


2 


410 


13 


5,264 


1827 


16 


6,505 


2 


334 


18 


6,839 


1828 


26 


9,772 


5 


391 


31 


10,663 


1829- 


21 


8,172 


6 


1,199 


27 


9,371 


1830 


16 


6,982 


10 


1,693 


26 


8,675 


1831 


23 


8,567 


7 


1,292 


30 


9,859 








AMERICAN. 






1824 


50 


15,688 


16 


3,1C3 


66 


18,851 


1825 
1826 


37 

67 


11,539 

21,892 


19 
21 


4,077 
3,996 


56 

88 


15,616 

25,888 


1827 


66 


21,261 


16 


3,693 


82 


24,954 


1828 


90 


31,188 


26 


5,841 


116 


37,029 


1829 


87 


31,087 


21 


5,210 


108 


36,297 


1830 


77 


26,860 


23 


4,072 


100 


30,932 


1831 


58 


21,560 


25 


5,488 


83 


26,143 






UNDER 


OTHER FOREIGN FLAGS. 










Ships. 


Tuns. 


Ships. 


Total. 
Tuns. 




1824 




5 


1,330 


88 


26,479 




1825 




3 


950 


79 


24,731 




1826 




6 


1,112 


107 


32,264 




1827 




7 


1,721 


107 


33,514 




1828 




8 


2,313 


155 


50,005 




1829 




4 


1,003 


139 


46,671 




1830 




3 


512 


129 


40,122 




1831 




5 


1,172 


118 


37,179 





From 1836 to 1841, not less than three hundred and fifty-eight vessels oelong 
ing to the United States, chiefly whalers, arrived at Honolulu, each of them 
expending, on an average, from six hundred to seven hundred dollars. During 



360 APPENDIX. 

the same period, seventeen vessels of war of our country also visited the Islands, 
and in this number is included the Exploring Expedition, which made extensive 
observations in Science and Natural History among the group. 

In the same five years there were only eighty-two English vessels, also mostly 
whalers, and nine men of war ; seven French merchantmen, and five men of war ; 
and a few scattering vessels from Mexico, Chili, Tahiti, Sydney, China, Russia 
and Prussia. At the port of Lahaina, the average annual number of our whalers 
is from thirty to fifty, and from twelve to twenty in the rest of the ports. 

The Imports for four and a half years previous to the 12th of September, 1840, 
are stated in " The Polynesian" to have been $1,567,000, of which $742,000 
were from the United States. 

The Exports for the same period were $1,388,100, of which $65,000 were in 
sandal-wood, $59,500 in hides, and the balance in goat-skins, salt, and sugar. 
During the same time ten vessels were owned by residents, of which seven were 
the property of our citizens, and three of Englishmen. 

I have derived from Mr. Jarves's exceHent work on these Islands, published 
last February, in Boston, the substance of the following statistics : 

He estimates the value of American property touching annually at Honolulu, 
including the outfits of whalers, at the lowest possible calculation, to be $1,200,- 
000. If to this be added the cargoes of oil, &c., the amount would unquestionably 
be swelled to at least $4,000,000. More than two thousand seamen navigate our 
vessels, exclusive of those employed on board of our national ships, and to the 
above sums we should join the value of the latter vessels, when estimating the 
American property which owes its security and protection to the harbors of these 
Islands. The value of the property of other nations is of course in proportion to 
their shipping ; but it may safely be stated, that the interests of the United States 
are four times greater than those of England, and that the importations are in the 
same ratio. 

IMPORTS FROM 1836 TO 1841. 

From the Un.ced States, $935,000 

« England, - 127,600 

•' California, 282,700 

« China, 233,990 

" Mexico, (specie and bullion,) 167,600 

« Chili, 160,000 

" Various countries, - - 127,300 

$2,034,190 
EXPORTS DURING THE SAME PERIOD. 

Sandal-wood » $65,000 

Hides, 90,000 

Goat-skins 27,240 

Sugar 34,000 

Molasses, 17,130 

Arrow-root, b,ii2Q 



Salt, 



20,000 



Sperm-oil, (vessels from Honolulu) 13,900 

Sundries, supplies to shipping, &c., - - - - - - 275,000 

$548,000 



APPENDIX. 361 . 

It must be recollected, that large amounts of the imports were purchased for 
reshipment, from this central position, or entre-depoi, to California, the Russian 
settlements, and the Southern Islands. 

There are sixty families of Americans, including the missions, on the Islands, 
and about an equal number formed by intermarriage with the natives. The 
Americans exceed, by several hundreds, all other foreigners, the most numerous 
of whom are English and Chinese. The cost valuation of our citizens' property, 
in buildings, furniture, &c., cannot be less than one hundred thousand dollars ; 
while the whole amount invested in permanent improvements, agriculture, ves- 
sels, and stock in trade, is certainly over one million. In 1836, it was rated at 
but four hundred thousand dollars, and the property of other foreigners at one- 
fifth. 

When the first missionaries arrived in these Islands, in 1820, they found an 
idle, vicious, profligate population ; a nation given up to sensuality, lying, drunk- 
enness, riot, treachery, lewdness, and murder ; men with whom retaliation signi- 
fied justice, and who retained, amid their moral ruin, but a single virtue, and that 
one the stoic power of endurance, derived from listlessness and an utter disregard 
of life. 

But under the management of the judicious persons who were sent out to these 
Islands, the whole aspect of affairs has been changed. Amid the taunts of care- 
less visitors, and the immoral interference of many whose pride it should have 
been to rebuke a spirit of disorder, and to encourage the missionaries in their 
noble labors, they have persevered in the foundation of a Christian Church, and 
the formation of a Government, which, " if left to itself, and treated by other nations 
with justice and courtesy, is fully competent to discharge all its relations, not only 
for the maintenance of its own internal peace, and the security of person and 
property to all who visit its shores, but to conform to all the settled principles of 
international law." 

The missionaries have overcome a multitude of difficulties. They have 
almost blotted out the vices that characterized the Islands, at their advent. They 
found intoxicating liquors forced on the natives by the French Government, 
through the hostile intervention of its navy, and they put down intemperance by 
the moral power of societies. They met the introduction of a different sect by 
additional zeal. They found a people grossly ignorant, and they taught them the 
wisdom of other nations. They found a band of savages, with a rich soil, fierce 
tempers, and abandoned habits ; and they have, while civilizing the people and 
bringing them into the folds of Christianity, taught them the value of their lands, 
the dignity and usefulness of commerce and labor, and the excellence of virtue. 
After twenty years of missionary labor, one of these gentlemen was called on to 
deliver a course of lectures on political science, and the result was a Constitution 
and a Code of Laws — regulating every department of an organized Government on 
a plan as near as wisdom would allow the adoption of our system among a people 
emerging into civilization. Two extensive editions of the Bible have been dis- 
tributed over the Islands ; more than seventeen thousand Protestants gather in 
the churches, and eighteen thousand children are educated in the schools ! 

Thus silently, and almost unknown to us, away in those distant seas, has a 
nation been called into existence by a few Christian teachers. Without arms, and 
by moral influences alone. Barbarous idolatry, and brutal sensuality, have been 
abandoned, and Christianity and civilization have taken their places. The com- 
mercial advantages of the Islands have, at the same time, attracted the attention 



362 APPENDIX. 

of our enterprising people, and while they have formed the chief resort of our 
whalers and our navy in the Pacific, tliey have ministered to a trade more exten- 
sive on our part than on that of any other nation. 



THE CALIFORNIAS. 

In the preceding part of this letter, I gave you some account of the Sandwich 
Islands, their trade and importance to our Union ; and I will now proceed to 
present some notices of the Californias, with the view of drawing your attention 
to certain conclusions to which I have come, in regard to American interests in 
the Pacific. 

Lower California, although discovered in 1534 by Grijalva, was ahnost un- 
known for more than a hundred years, when the first Jesuit missionaries com- 
menced their labors in the year 1683. Salvatierra, Ugarte and Piccoli, with the 
Virgin for their patron, attempted the conquest with arms, and by moral influ- 
ences ; and although in 1786 fifteen missionary establishments had been made, 
yet the whole of the peninsula seems to have turned out barren and valueless to 
trade, except so far as the Pearl-fishery produced a very considerable revenue. 
In 1587, according to Acosta, six hundred and ninety-seven pounds of this precious 
article were imported into Seville; but in 1831, (the latest account I can find of 
any autiiority,) tlie whole fishery had dwindled into utter insignificance. There 
were then but fuur vessels and two boats engaged in it ; and the two hundred 
divers who manned them, obtained, in all, but eighty-eight ounces of pearls, 
valued at little more than thirteen thousand dollars. 

Upper California, however, is different in its natural characteristics. No 
great impression was made on it by the missionaries in their " spiritual conquest" 
until 1768. Since then it has gradually progressed, (under the influence, I be- 
lieve, of the Franciscan monks,) until twenty-one missions are numbered within 
its limits, and twenty-three thousand and twenty-five Indians, troops and Creoles, 
have come within their dominion, of which number only about five thousand are 
of Spanish extraction. Each of these missions has a tract assigned to it of fifteen 
miles square ; and the Indian population, gathered from the neighboring wander- 
ing tribes, is placed within its boundaries, under vigilant surveillance ; worked, 
fed, clothed, taught the Christian doctrine, and subjected (according to Forbes,) 
to an absolute slavery. They are idle, stupid, pusillanimous, sickly, and have 
made no progress, either in the arts necessary for personal comfort or of national 
government. 

The portion of Upper California, at present occupied by settlers and missions, 
is about five hundred English miles in extent, and runs, in breadth, from the sea 
to the first ranges of hills on the west. The area of this occupied land is about 
thirteen millions of acres, forming but an insignificant portion of the whole terri- 
tory, which, in " superficial extent, is equal to many of the most extensive king- 
doms of Europe." Beyond the western hills, about forty miles from the sea, the 
country is a wilderness, held by scattered tribes, but little known and seldom 
visited. 

But all the explorers who have visited California, describe it as a magnifi- 
cent country. The territory behind the highlands is " reckoned superior to the 
coast, and is said to consist of plains, lakes, and hills, beautifully diversified, and 
of the greatest natural fertility ; capable of yielding every variety of vegetable 



APPENDIX. 363 

production, and abounding with timber of the greatest size." The mean tem- 
perature of San Francisco in December is 53°, the maximum being 66° and the 
minimum 46, while the hygrometer is said to indicate a remarkably dry atmosphere. 

In different districts, the country is varied by hill and dell, and by occasional 
mountains rising to the height of a thousand, and sometimes three thousand feet, 
while the adjacent soil is of the richest loam. A river has been traced some 
hundreds of miles upward, toward the northeast, from the bay of San Francisco. 
From Monterey to Santa Clara, the scenery " may be compared to a park which 
had been planted with the true old English oak, with its undergrowth cut away, 
and the stately lords of the forest left in complete possession of the soil, which 
was covered with luxuriant herbage, and beautifully diversified with pleasing 
eminences and vales." 

In the garden of the Mission of Buenaventura, Vancouver was struck with the 
quantity and variety of the productions, not only indigenous to the country, but 
" appertaining to the temperate as well as to the torrid zone ; — such as apples, 
pears, plums, figs, oranges, grapes, peaches, pomegranates, plantains, bananas, 
cocoanuts, sugar cane, indigo, and every useful variety of kitchen plants and me- 
dicinal roots." " It would not be easy," says Forbes,* " to match such an assem- 
blage as this elsewhere, and yet this is only a part of the fruits and vegetables 
now cultivated in California." 

The forests are thick and abundant, filled with oaks, elms, birch, planes, and 
great varieties of pines ; and the ranges of hills and mountains which bound the 
maritime portions to the northeast, shelter it from the only winds that might injure 
the fruits of the soil, and tend to preserve the eternal spring that seems to reign 
for ever over this favored land. 

Immense herds of horses run wild in California ; and it is said that, in some 
places, the horned cattle even render the country unsafe for passengers. Deer, a 
variety of birds, and exhaustless quantities of fish, are also found ; but I will better 
convey to you an idea of the productions of the country by transcribing some of 
the tables given by Mr. Forbes, whose long residence on the Western Coasts of 
America, entitles him to the greatest confidence and respect. Agriculture in gen- 
eral, is but poorly conducted, the implements being nearly the same as those that 
were brought by the earliest settlers ; and the grains that are cultivated are only 
wheat, barley, maize, and frijoles, or, a bean used as the favorite food by all the 
natives. 

The following is the whole produce on the portion of Upper California, which 
was cultivated in 1831 : 

Wheat, 25,144 

Maize, or corn, ....... 10,926 

Frijoles, ........ 1,644 

Gervanzoa and peas, ...... 1,083 

Barley, 7,405 



46,202— /«negas. 

The wheat and barley may be calculated to be worth $2 the fanega; the maize 
1,50 ; and the fanega, itself, to contain about two bushels and a half English 

* In his work on Califoraia. 



364 APPENDIX. 

measure. The wheat, it will be perceived, is greater than any of the other grains ; 
and this is the reverse of what usually occurs throughout the rest of Mexico.* 

The mills for grinding flour are few and primitive ; and although, as we have 
seen, all sorts of vegetables and fruits, from the potatoe to the vine, fig and pines, 
may bo readily cultivated ; and although the same extent of ground will produce 
about three times as much wheat as England, and returns maize one hundred and 
fifty fold ; yet every species of agriculture seems to be abandoned that is not 
merely and absolutely necessary to support existence. Pasturage here, as well 
as throughout most of the Spanish settlements, appears to be the great object of 
the farmer ; and he derives his profits from it in the easiest manner, by the sale 
either of his beeves and horses, or of their fat and hides. 

The following table will give you the total number of cattle, of all descriptions, 
for the year 1831 if 

Black cattle, 216,727 

Horses, 32,201 

Mules, 2,844 

Asses, 177 

Sheep, 153,455 

Goats, 1,873 

Swine, 839 

In addition to these, there are numbers at large which are not marked as belong- 
ing to any of the jurisdictions, missions, haciendas or towns ; and are hunted, las- 
soed and slain, to prevent their interference with the pasturage of the more useful 
cattle. But from all this vast multitude but little advantage is gained, except in 
the hides and tallow. Butter and cheese are almost unknown, and the dairy con- 
sequently altogether neglected. A fat ox is worth $5 ; a cow ^5 ; a horse, for 
the saddle, $10 ; a mare $5 ; a sheep $2, and a mule is worth $10. 

In former times, it was not unusual to find a thousand head of cattle driven to 
the city of Mexico from the large estates on the Pacific ; and although the practice 
is still continued, yet it is not to the extent as formerly. During the first few years 
after the opening of the ports, the trade with California was but trifling. The 
amount of exports was then estimated, at about thirty thousand hides and seven 
thousand quintals of tallow, with some trifling cargoes to San Bias, being not 
more than $130,000 in total value ; but within a few years past the trade has con- 
siderably increased, and a brisk intercourse has been conducted, almost entirely 
by Americans, with the Sandwich Islands. There is but small internal commerce, 
and although it forms part of the Mexican Republic, it is almost entirely cut oflT 
and isolated from the great mass of the nation. 

Besides a genial climate, and an exceedingly prolific soil. Upper California has 
several of the best harbors on the Western Coast of America. 

Monterey, which was recently taken possession of by Commodore Jones, in the 
most impromptu manner, is tolerably safe, though but an open roadstead. San 
Diego has a good and secure anchorage. San Pedro is an extensive bay, with 
good holding ground, but almost totally unknown. San Juan has an anchorage of 
five fathoms throughout the bay, and San Francisco, (a narrow arm of the sea, 
penetrating far inland, by a safe and deep channel,) forms one of the most capacious 
and secure harbors in the world. It is perfectly shielded from every wind, and the 
largest frigates may ride in safety on its bosom. 

• Forbes, 260. t Forbes, 265. 



APPENDIX. 365 

It is useless to contrast the trifling result produced by the missionaries in Cali- 
fornia after a century's labors, with that of the missionaries in the Sandwich 
Islands, after but twenty-five years. Yet we cannot help noticing that, while in 
the Islands there are seventeen thousand persons in the church, and eighteen 
thousand in the schools, the total number of reclaimed Indians in California is not 
more than eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty-three, and those, even, are 
generally unable to read ; — without books, bibles, or paper, and altogether inca- 
pable of self-government. The ministers of both creeds have, doubtless, been 
zealous in spirit, but certainly with very unequal success. 

You may now very reasonably ask me, (after having perused all these details,) 
of what interest are they, either to yourself or our country] and why I should direct 
your attention to a portion of the territory of a neighboring power with which we 
are at peace, and likely to remain so 1 

I trust sincerely that these pacific relations may long continue. It is the inte- 
rest of both Powers that they should do so, and especially that of Mexico. An 
ardent friendship between us, founded on mutual faith and similar republican insti- 
tutions, cannot fail to affect the destinies of this Continent ; and I trust you wiU 
not imagine, therefore, that I am pointing out the treasures of the Californias for 
the purpose of alluring people to the enterprise of another Texas. But the 
condition of Mexico is extremely unsettled. It is impossible to declare or imagine 
what will be the ultimate issue of the continual revolutions, that have torn the 
vitals of that beautiful country for twenty years. She may consolidate her prov- 
inces, she may adopt a Federal Government, or she may dismember her Empire, 
each State setting up a separate and independent rule for herself ; but, in any event, 
it is proper that we should not so cautiously watch her, as watch Great Britain in re- 
gard to her. Mexico partakes in the Spanish pride of territorial dominion and reten- 
tion of her soil ; but she is in extreme difficulties. She owes (we have seen,) a 
debt of ^60,000,000 to England ; and to the United States a debt of more than 
$2,000,000. Her maritime revenues are m^ortgaged for an internal debt of $18,- 
550,000 ; and, in all, she owes nearly eighty-five millions, England being always 
the largest creditor, to the extent, perhaps, of three-fourths of the whole. 

How is she to pay England ? To liquidate a portion of the debt and interest due 
the United States, (of little more than $200,000,) she was obliged to resort to a 
forced loan from her citizens, as you have recently observed. Suppose that a dis- 
memberment takes place, or, that England, after accumulating her claims and 
WTath, until she thinks the amount and energy sufficient for all exigencies, sud- 
denly orders her Minister in Mexico to demand payment or his passports — what 
must inevitably be the result ? I will tell you in the language of Forbes, in order 
to show that this is no vain imagination of the moment excited in an American 
fancy. The value of California is known and appreciated in England. 

" California," says our author, at page 146,* " is quite a distinct country 
from Mexico, and has nothing in common with it, except that the present inhabit- 
ants are of the same family ; it is therefore to be apprehended, that on any cause 
of quai-rel between the two countries, it will be apt to separate itself from the 
parent State." 

This shows you the possibility of a disunion, without any very violent effort or 
loss on either side ; but, at page 152, he boldly broaches the idea of cancelling the 
English debt, by a transfer of California to her creditors. " This," says he, 
" would be a wise measure on the part of Mexico, if the Government could be 

* Fotbes's California, London, 1839. Mr. Forbes is, or was, until recently, British Consul in one of the porU 
on the West Coast of Mexico. 



866 APPENDIX. 

brousfht to lay aside the vanity of retaining large possessions. The cession of 
such a disjointed part of the Republic as California, would be an advantage. In 
no case can it ever be profitable to the Mexican Republic, nor can it possibly re- 
main united to it for any length of time. Therefore, by giving up this territory 
for the debt, would be getting rid of this last for nothing. * * * * 

If California were ceded for the English debt, the creditors might be formed into a 
Company, with the difference, that they should have a sort of sovereignty over the 
territory — somewhat in the manner of the East India Company. This, in ray 
opinion, would certainly bring a revenue in time which might be equal to the 
debt ; and, under good management and with an English population, would most 
certainly realize all that has been predicted of this fine country." 

Now, may not this sudden usurpation of the Sandwich Islands be a premonitory 
symptom — a step in advance to a movement upon Mexico ? Look, for a moment, 
at the map of the world. England already has control of the Eastern part of Asia; 
is looking toward her possessions of the Hudson Bay Company, and is evidently 
excited by our Senatorial harangues on the Oregon Territory. Her rival, Russia, 
has encroached on the Californias by a settlement at Bodega, and is known to 
have attempted to procure the cession of an upland tract in the Hawaiian Islands, 
under the pretence of a desire " for soil to cultivate wheat." France has the 
Marquesas. We are prosecuting our claims on the North Western Territory. 
England requires a central rendezvous for her fleets in the Pacific, and she seizes 
the Sandwich Islands. They are in the direct line of trade from the West Coast 
to China. Mexico owes Great Britain an enormous debt which she is unable to 
pay. A project is on foot to cross the Isthmus of Panama by a railway or canal. 
Steam navigation has already been introduced into the Pacific, and we all know 
how rapidly the facilities were advanced within a few years to reach India through 
the Red Sea. 

Now I confess to you, that, combining all these circumstances — the value of the 
Islands and the Main, the greediness of England, the manner in which she is 
pushing her Empire all over the world — I cannot but see danger in the sudden 
attempted seizure of the Hawaiian group, and think it time that the statesmen of 
our country should take a decided stand in the politics of this hemisphere. 

I think I have shown the importance of these Islands to our commerce, and the 
value of the Californias, both as a country of vast natural resources, and as a terri- 
tory which, in the hands of a European Power, would become a central point, 
whence it might powerfully influence the future destinies of this Continent. 

" The Pacific Coast of Spanish America," says the author I have already 
quoted, " is, in uninterrupted extent, equal to the whole coast of the Old World 
from the Naze of Norway to the Cape de Verd in Africa. What reflections must 
this give rise to, when we consider that this line of coast comprehends Denmark, 
Germany, Holland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, 
the countries around the Mediterranean, and part of Africa 1 And certainly the 
American shores are bounded by countries, naturally more rich than all these 
anrient and powerful countries united." 

It seems, then, that the true wisdom of our Government should be directed 
toward the preservation of this immense territory intact, and under the growing 
influence of Republican systems. A wrong step in statesmanship in our day and 
generation, may involve us in all the foreign difficulties and questions of the 
" balance of power," and affect the fate of our hemisphere for centuries to come. 
But, under any circumstances, let it be our care to keep sacred the soil of oui 



APPENDIX. 367 

immediate neighbor in the hour of her weakness, and to protect the Islands that 
have been founded and raised to national dignity and importance, by American 
zeal and American enterprise. It is our pecuniary and our political interest to 
do so. 



THE ENCHOACHMENTS OF ENGLAND. 



No one who has been in the least attentive to the diplomatic negotiations of our 
country, can fail to know, that the question of total political separation between 
this Continent and Europe, is one of no recent date. 

When the revolutions of the Southern Republics were in some degree quieted, 
and it became evident, after the battle of Ayacucho, that the dominion of Spain 
must cease entirely over her American colonies, the Government of the United 
States hastened to interfere, by her ministers abroad, in behalf of the independence 
of the revolted provinces. It did so, in order to prevent the useless effusion of 
blood, and to produce a pacification of this hemisphere, under which the commer- 
cial interests of our Union might be fostered, and the people of the newly emanci- 
pated regions take their place among the enlightened nations of the world. In 
these negotiations with the European powers, both Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay 
produced some of the ablest state papers that adorn the archives of our Depart- 
ment ; and it would be well to refer to them, at the present period, when the 
encroachments of England, on the flimsiest pretexts, are again beginning to be 
visible all over the world, while she is extending her sway, not only for the 
peaceful purposes of her commerce, but for empire and territory. The foundation 
of the exclusive system of our country, has been laid " in principles of morals and 
politics new and distasteful to the thrones and dominations of the Old World ;" and 
they are now, most probably, seeking with slow and secret advance, to regain, by 
gradual and unheeded progress, what the political ferments of Europe, at an earlier 
period, forced them to abandon. 

In the summer of 1825, a large French fleet visited the American seas and the 
coast of the United States. The purpose of this armament was unknown. But 
the watchful statesmen of those days regarded a visit of that character with jealous 
eyes ; and the Minister of the United States at the Court of Paris was immediately 
directed by Mr. Clay, to inform the Cabinet to which he was accredited, that any 
such movements, made in time of peace, ought hereafter to be notified to us, 
Mr. Brown was instructed, at the same time, to call the attention of the French 
Government to the condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico ; and it was 
distinctly intimated, that inasmuch as we were altogether contented with the 
present ownership of these possessions, " we could not consent to their occupation 
by another European power than Spain, under any contingency whatever." A sim- 
ilar communication. was made about the same time to Mr. Canning ; and it is known 
that these frank and amicable representations were heedfully respected by the 
Governments both of England and France. The real purposes of the French 
fleet of 1825 are still utterly unknown ; but the idea that its object was the occu- 
pation of Cuba and Porto Rico gained considerable ground, from the current rumor 
of the day, the weakness of Spain, the revolted conditioii of her provinces, the 
intimate alliance between that monarchy and France, and " the disproportionate 
extent of the armament to any ordinary purposes of peaceful commerce." 



868 APPENDIX. 

It is also known, from the interviews between Mr. Middleton and Count Nessel- 
rode, at St. Peterburg, in August, 1825, that the Russian Cabinet had resolved to 
discountenance every enterprise against these Islands, and thus maintain the only 
state of things ""that could preserve a just balance of power in the Antilles." 



President Monroe, in his message to Congress in 1823, most distinctly lays 
down his ideas of the true policy of the United States in regard to this Continent. 

" The citizens of the United States," said he, " cherish sentiments the most 
friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow men on that (the Euro- 
pean) side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European Powers, in matters rela- 
ting to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our 
policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, 
that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence. With the movements 
in this hemisphere, we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes 
which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political 
system of the Allied Powers, is essentially different in this respect from that of 
America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective 
Governments. And to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the 
loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most en- 
lightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this 
whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable 
relations subsisting between the United States and those Powers, to declare, that 
we should consider any attempt on their part, to extend their system to any por- 
tion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety. 

" With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power, we have 
not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have 
declared their Independence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have, 
on great consideration, and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view 
aoy interposition, for the purposes of oppressing them, or controlling in any other 
manner their destiny, by any European Power, in other light than as the manifes- 
tation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between 
those new Governments and Spain, we declared our neutrality at the time of their 
recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided 
no change shall occur, which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this 
Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States 
indispensable to their security." 



In March, 1826, Mr. Adams, then President of the United States, prepared a 
very luminous message on the subject of the Panama mission, in which he takes 
occasion to give a historical account of our relations with the new Republics, and 
to enforce the doctrines so clearly stated by his predecessor. He deemed the 
acceptance of an invitation to join in the deliberation of that Congress, as by no 
means violating the ancient well established policy of our nation by entangling us 
in dangerous alliances, and he resolved that we should concur in no engagements 
which would import hostility to Europe, or justly excite resentment in any of her 
States. " Our views," says he, " would extend no further than to a mutual pledge 
of the parties to the compact, to maintain the principle in application to its own 
territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments, or establishments, of European 
jurisdiction upon its own soil. 



APPENDIX. 369 

It will be perceived, therefore, that two Administrations at the commencement 
of the national existence of the new Republic, solemnly determined on an unqual- 
ified political and colonial separation from all European powers. They were 
anxious to preserve a state of mutual liberty and independence, and yet it was not 
deemed expedient to imitate the example of the Old World, by the formation of an 
American Holy Alliance, in defence of our freedom, as Europe had done m de- 
fence of legitimacy and allegiance. It, nevertheless, would seem, that as the 
great head of the Powers of this Continent, it becomes us now to persist in the 
policy wisely adopted near twenty years ago ; and to be warned, in time, of every 
sym.ptom of approaching danger. 

If England extends her power, by gradual advances, from the Balize into Gua- 
temala, (now under Indian rule,) and then into Yucatan, (now in revolt,) she will 
hold the key of both Americas, by controlling the passage across the Isthmus to 
the Pacific. If she pushes her claims on Mexico, and grasps the Californlas ; 
retains her hold on China, the mouth of the Columbia and Canada ;— and, while 
she continues the possession of the Bermudas, sweeps our Eastern coast by 
armed war-steamers, masked under the peaceful disguise of West India Mail 
Packets (!) we will shortly find ourselves as comfortably and securely walled in 
by British bayonets, as the most loyal of Her Majesty's subjects could well 

desire. 

And yet, all this would be effected by mere supineness on our part, and by 
neglect of determined firmness, and intimations similar to those of 1825, in regard 
to the French fleet, and the occupation of Cuba and Porto Rico. If I am an- 
swered, that these are dreams and visions of things that may occur, but perhaps 
will not in our day and generation ; I reply, by the expression of a hope that the 
period of time-serving policy is over in our Union, and that the statesmanship of 
America is not hereafter to be confined by a horizon of four years, or, at most 
of eiglii. 

If one-half the foresight that is employed in Britain to sustain a population 
over-taxed, over-worked, and surrounded by institutions far behind the spirit of 
the age, on a territory of small dimensions, were infused, especially, into the for- 
eign relations of our own country, with its vast domain and happy people, the germ 
of a thousand ills would be destroyed for the future. If we begin right in our 
national career, we shall not be forced to remedy an accumulation of political 
errors by subsequent legislation, or, like England, to resort to unnatural stimu- 
lants and predatory wars for the purpose of infusing artificial life into a decrepit 
Empire. 



In connection with the subject of our trade and interests in the Pacific, and the 
proposed junction of the Atlantic and that Ocean by a Canal across the Isthmus 
of Panama, I take the liberty to insert a very valuable note from Mr. Forbes's 
" California," relative to Steam Navigation in that Sea. 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON THE SUBJECT OF STEAM NAVIGATION IN 
THE PACIFIC, FROM A GENTLEMAN FORMERLY RESIDENT IN ONE OF THE MEXICAN 
PORTS ON THE PACIFIC. 

London, Dec. 20, 1838. 
I have taken some pains to make myself acquainted with the grounds on which 
the " Pacific Steam Navigation Company " is founded, with its proceedings as far 
24 



370 APPENDIX. 

as they have gone, and ita prospects as far as I can comprehend them. Of this 
you may rest assured : that it has already received the patronage of the leading 
merchants trading to the Pacific ; several of them having subscribed with the ex- 
nressed object of forwarding an undertaking fraught with so many public benefits, 
while others have entered more largely into it, with the view of participating in 
the o-reat profit which it promises as an investment. The general result given in 
the 34th page of Mr. Wheelwright's pamphlet, showing 466,950 dollars as the 
amount of annual receipts on four steamers, costing from 400,000 to 450,000 dol- 
lars, and ao-ainst the same only 236,630 dollars of annual expenditure, whereby 
the company will realize an annual profit of 230,320 dollars, or (at 48d. exchange) 
j£46,064, is so extraordinarily large, that my first impression was to look upon 
the project as one hatched by parties connected with our Stock Exchange ; but 
on turnino- to schedules A. and C, I not only found that the above results were 
verified by a committee of British merchants residing in Lima, and presided over 
by Her Majesty's Consul for Peru, but that a note was added, giving reasons to 
hope for still larger profits, under economical' arrangements in the management 
of the items of expenditure. 

It appears that this plan, speculative though it seems, dates its rise from the 
circular officially issued by Her Majesty's Consul General for Peru, dated Lima, 
18th June, 1826, directed to British merchants and residents generally, requesting 
their attention to dispatches from Her Majesty's Government, promising facilities 
to carry it into effect, and requesting their active cooperation. No undertaking, 
therefore, could originate under more respectable auspices ; and from inquiries I 
have made, I have no hesitation in stating that the gentlemen who have taken it 
up in London are of the utmost respectability, and influenced by the most honor- 
able motives. 

The Author of " California " has not expressed himself in favor of the extension 
of this proposed line, from Panama to the Northern Pacific, further than as the 
reader may construe his remarks in pages 315 to 320. But I feel confident, after 
viewing the success of steam in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea, in the Mediter- 
ranean, and backward and forward to England, at all seasons of the year ; and, 
above all, in so many safe and expeditious voyages across the Atlantic, that the 
day is not far distant, when either the directors of the present Pacific Steam 
Navigation Company, or some new Company, will take up the Northern line. 
The ^numerous population along the Western coasts of Central America and 
Mexico, and the rich products of the adjoining provinces in gold, silver, pearls, 
cochineal, and indigo, ought to aflford profitable employment for steamers as far 
up as the Gulf of California at least ; and were emigration ever turning its tide 
to California, in the way suggested by the author, whether under the direction 
of Her Majesty's Government, or of a public company, the aid of steam could not 
fail to be required. 

Under the strongest presentiment that these ideas will not lie many years in- 
operative, I have made calculations of the distances from Panama to the principal 
northern ports ; which I here subjoin, as not without importance in the present 
inquiry. These calculations do not pretend to be exact to a mile, or to an hour; 
but they are sufficiently so for our purpose. Nine miles are allowed per hour. 

The distances from Panama to San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, Bodega, 
and Columbia river are given in two ways ; first, by the line of coast, via Mazatlan, 
and second, from Panama direct. 



APPENDIX. 371 

TABLE OF DISTANCES AND HOUKS STEAMING FROM PANAMA TO THE FOLLOWING PORTS, TIZ : 

Miles. Hours. 

From Panama to the Gulf of Nicoya, 435 48 

« the Gulf of Papagayo, 590 65.30 

« Realejo, 680 75.30 

" ' Sonsonate, 847 94 

" " Yztapa, 937 104 

" « Socunusco, 1095 121.30 

« « Tehuantepec, 1210 134.30 

« " Acapulco 1495 166 

" « Navidad, 1810 201 

" « San Bias, - 1962. 218 

« « Mazatlan, 2091 232 

". « Guaymas, 2448 272 

" " Rio Gila, where it joins the Colorado, - - 2793 310 

„ « q n- 5 ^^^ Mazatlan .... 3016 335 

oan uiego, ^ ^j^.^^^ ^^.^^ Panama, - . 2760 306.30 

" Monterev 5 via Mazatlan . - . , 3376 375 

Monteiey, | ^.^^^^^ ..... 3120 346.30 

„ ., a 17 • S via Mazatlan ... 3456 384 

San Francisco, j^.^.^^^^ .... 3200 355.30 

„ „ -D • a *.T » * T> » T> J S via Mazatlan 3514 390.30 

" " Russian Settlement at rortisodega, < ,. qo^^s qfio 

" " the British Settlement at J via Mazatlan . 4034 448 

Columbia River, } direct, - . - 3570 385.30 

" « Behring's Straits, via Columbia River, - - 5970 663 

« « Woahoo, Sandwich Islands, ... - 4620 513 

" " St. Peter and St. Paul, Kamschatka, via Woahoo, 7380 820 

" " Jedo, in Japan, via Woahoo, .... 7950 883 

« " Canton, via Woahoo, 9540 1060 

In the above table, the distance to Behring's Straits and the ports that follow, 
is given to satisfy the reader's curiosity, and not with a view to any practical 
utility, in the way of Steam Navigation, unless greatly improved and cheapened. 
It is not impossible that chemists may discover some new power, equal to steam, 
and producible at less expense, or that our engineers may invent some mechanical 
mode of propulsion for vessels, rendering the Isthmus of Panama the most direct 
and expeditious route, not only to these ports, but to Manila and the whole 
Eastern Archipelago. 

It will be seen from this table, that the British settlement* on the Columbia 
river might be reached from Panama, by steam, in nineteen days, or say about 
forty days from England. By the same route, the important ^ort of San Francisco 
might be reached in sixteen days from Panama, or thirty-six from England ; and 
the Russsian settlement at La Bodega, in about six hours longer time. What a 
change in our communications, when the nearest Russian settlement on the west 
coast of America, will be brought within thirty-six days and six hours steaming, 
from our own shores ; when even St. Peter and St. Paul, in Kamschatka, will be 
within fifty days, steaming ; Jedo, within fifty-seven ; Canton, within sixty-four, 
and Woahoo, in the Sandwich Islands, within forty-two days ! Such are the 
wonderful results, that sooner or later may he expected from the mere power of 
steam, (improved and cheapened, as it may be, by fresh discoveries,) and the re- 
sumption of the old line of communication between Europe and the Pacific, vi4 
Chagres and Panama. 

• I call it British, believing we have not yet relinquished its Mirthem bank. 

24* 



372 APPENDIX. 

I here use the word resumption deliberately ; for, from the era of Columbus 
(1502) down to 1824, that line was the high road between Spain and her colonies, 
along the West coast, not only for Spanish settlers and merchants, but for whole 
caro-oes of goods and regiments of soldiers. The famous Vasco Nunes de Balbao, 
so early as 1513, crossed the isthmus, with troops, from his settlement of Santa 
Maria del Darien, to the Gulf of San Miguel, S. E. of Panama ; and the latter, 
eleven years afterward, viz. in 1524, had already become a city of sufRcient im- 
portance to have a governor, and to furnish to Francisco Pizarro, Diego Almagro, 
and Fernando Luque, the men, arms, and ships with which they proceeded to the 
conquest of Peru. Soon afterward, it became the seat of a Royal " Audiencia," 
and, until the suppression of the Spanish galleons, and the opening of the free 
trade, was the grand emporium of all the merchandise from Spain, destined for 
the southern coast of New Granada and Peru, and the northern ports of Guate- 
mala. During the late war of Independence in Peru, several regiments from 
Spain were sent up the Chagres to Panama, and from thence, by transports, to 
Peru ; and it was by the same course, that Cruz Mourgeon — the last Vice-king 
appointed by Spain for New Granada — passed, with his forces, in 1822. The his- 
tory of the Buccaneers proves that, as early as the days of Queen Elizabeth, our 
own piratical countrymen, and other lawless inhabitants of the West Indies, were 
quite familiar with this route, which they passed and repassed at pleasure ; and 
until the trade with the Pacific, by Cape Horn, became open to our own merchants, 
they supplied the wants of the Spanish colonists on the Pacific coasts, through 
Jamaica, by the same channel. It is therefore clear, that in resuming that old 
line of communication, without the aid of either Railroad or Canal, (though doubt- 
less either of these would greatly facilitate the transport of passengers and goods J 
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company makes no new or dangerous experiment. 
A British merchant, then sailing on board the vessel whose course is given in the 
map attached to the present work, so recently as 1824, took on board in Panama 
and carried to San Bias, a thousand bales of goods, bought and packed in Jamaica, 
and which had been conveyed across the isthmus, by the way indicated. The 
expenses on each bale placed in Panama were seven dollars three rials, and con- 
sisted of the following items, viz. : 

Freight on each bale from Jamaica to Chagres, - 
Agency at Chagres, .-.'--- 
Freight per canoe from Chagres to Cruces, . - - 
Duty of Deposite in Cruces, . . . . - 

Agency, 

Mule-hire from Cruces to Panama (7 leagues), - 

In all, ... 7 3 

on each bale of about 150 lbs. weight. The canoes on the Chagres are large 
enough to take eighty of these bales at once ; have " Toldos," (a kind of awning, 
made of cane and palm leaves, impervious to the sun and rain,) are quite safe, and 
managed, with great adroitness, by negro watermen remarkable for their size and 
strength. 

It would require some nicety of calculation, to enable me to institute an exact 
comparison between these charges, and those on the same goods carried round by 
Cape Horn. I am inclined to think, that on goods outward the latter would be 
the cheapest route ; but, on lace, fine linens, silks, and jewelry, the additional ex- 
pense could not be sensibly felt ; and where the object is to be first in a market ; 
in the time of war, to save risk ; and at all times, to save interest of money, the 



lolls. 


Rials. 


2 








4 


1 


5 





4 





2 


2 


4 



APPENDIX. 373 

Panama and Chagres route — even as it was in 1824, and is now — must be the 
preferable one, both as regards the above description of goods outward, and bullion, 
specie, cochineal, and indigo homeward. 

Besides the seven dollars three nals above mentioned, I may state that, in 1824, 
tne transit duties levied in Panama were three dollars two rials on each bale ; but 
by a late decree of the government of New Granada, all the transit duties have 
been abolished, so that, perhaps, at this moment, the whole charges may not exceed 
six dollars per bale, from Jamaica to Panama. I lately conversed with an intelli- 
gent Havana merchant, D. R. Clarke, Esq., now in London, who has been six 
voyages from Jamaica (backward and forward) to Panama : he never incurred the 
smallest loss or risk either from the river, the road, the natives, or the climate ; 
but to avoid delay, he thinks that a tram railroad,* either from the junction of the 
Trinidad v/ith the Chagres to Panama, or from Portobello to Panama, would be 
of great use, easily made, and cheaply supported. Perhaps the former would be 
preferable, on account of the dangerous fevers which prevail in Portobello, but not 
on the Chagres. 

The above remarks are made, presuming that Her Majesty's government estab- 
lishes a line of steamers through the West Indies as far as to Chagres, and that 
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company take the passengers and goods up at Pa- 
nama, in the Pacific, carrying them thence, on their way south and north, without 
delay ; for the reader will find that a vessel (a fast-sailing schooner, of the class 
known under the designation of " Clipper''') took thirty-two days in sailing from 
Panama to San Bias, a voyage which, by a steamer proceeding direct, might be 
accomplished in nine days. A dull sailing vessel would have taken perhaps sixty 
days, or more, to perform the same voyage, from the extreme difficulty of sailing 
out to the westward from Panama Bay, in consequence of calms, alternating with 
squalls from all directions, and the struggle she would have to maintain, in pro- 
ceeding along the coasts of Central America and Mexico, against opposing winds 
and currents. The same " clipper " (though to go eleven and eleven-and-a-half 
knots per hour, was not unusual with her,) took twelve days on her voyage from 
Valparaiso, in sailing from the Equator to Panama. I mention these apparently 
uninteresting minutiee, to establish the important facts, that even were such a 
canal made as the author of " California " recommends, without steamers ready 
at Panama (as the Pacific Steam Navigation Company proposes to have them,) 
to carry on, at once, goods and passengers northward and southward, little advan- 
tage would be gained, as regards ports to the southward of Payta, or northward 
of Manzanillo, on the coast of Mexico. The saving of time would not be very 
great, and the expense, allowing for tolls on the canal, would, I fear, not be much 
less, than by the voyage round Cape Horn. 

I do not think that steamers from Panama northward, would pay the owners 
farther than San Bias or Mazatlan : were, indeed, the tide of emigration setting 
strongly to California or the settlements on the Columbia River, occasional trips. 
might be made so far, profitably ; but as for Woahoo, Jedo, Canton, and other 
places named in the calculations above given, steamers from Panama to them will 
never pay, until in the progress of discovery, the expenses of steamers are brought 
down more nearly to a level with those of sailing vessels. If eve.r this desirable 
event be realized, the ideas here thrown out will assume a practical importance ; 
and it will behoove Great Britain, as queen of the sea, to maintain by steam the 
same naval character which she has earned by canvas. The Isthmus of Panama 
will then become a point of very great importance. 

* I mean a road with rails, where the carriages and wagons are dragged by horses and mules, both of which 
abound and are cheap in the Isthmus. 



374 APPENDIX. 

The author of " California " hints the possibility that the Isthmus might be 
ceded to some European State : if it ever should be so ceded, the nation hold- 
ing it will acquire an immense influence and power over the communications of 
the world, (supposing the above improvements in steam,) with a territory well- 
wooded, well-watered, fertile in the extreme, rich in gold and pearl fisheries, ca- 
pable of supporting a numerous population, and not, by any means, generally 
unhealthy ; while the inhabitants will acquire that wealth and prosperity, which 
the advantages of their situation secure to them. But even allowing — as is most 
probable — that New Granada will continue to retain its sovereignty over the 
Isthmus, there is nothing in the history or character of that Republic which can 
justify our fears that it will not religiously maintain its stipulations in favor of the 
route across to Panama. Of all the South American Republics, New Granada has 
shown the greatest respect to public faith ; and the Hurtados, the Arossamenas, 
the Gomezes, the Quezadas, the Paredeses, and other respectable inhabitants of 
Panama, are too much alive to the continuance and improvement of the old over- 
land intercourse, whereby their city has flourished, not to protest against any inju- 
rious imposts, or prejudicial interference. I believe that hitherto, no passenger nor 
merchant travelling across to Panama, can justly complain of any outrage, either 
to his person or property, from either the local authorities, or from individuals. 
They are all aware, that nothing short of the resumption of the old line of com- 
munication between Europe and the Pacific, can restore their former prosperity, 
and develop the latent resources of their beautiful country ; and they are prepared 
to make every exertion to secure so desirable an object. 

Had the line of steamers above suggested been now in operation, it is obvious 
that the present French blockade of the Atlantic ports of Mexico could have been 
counteracted, by sending the cargoes of vessels warned off, to Chagres, across to 
Panama, and thence to the Mexican ports of the Pacific. 

In conclusion, I may state, that I understand proposals for Steam Navigation on 
the Atlantic ports have been submitted to the Mexican government, by a firm of 
great standing in that country and in London, and that a favorable answer is ex- 
pected by the first packet. 



PANAMA AND THE PACIFIC. A MEMORANDUM SENT TO THE FOREIGN OFFICE, ON TH£ 
ADVANTAGE OF USING THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA AS A MORE RAPID MEANS OF COM- 
MUNICATION BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE PORTS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. BY THE 
HON. p. CAMPBELL SCARLETT. 

In passing within the last few months down the coast of South America, on the 
Pacific side, from Valparaiso, through Lima, to Payta, in the neighborhood of 
Guayaquil, and to Panama, and from thence to the Atlantic Ocean across the 
Isthmus of Darien, I had occasion to observe the truth of representations fre- 
quently made to me by British merchants in those settlements : how much shorter 
and more certain might be the communication of intelligence from those places 
to England by that route, than by the passage round Cape Horn. That passage 
in merchant vessels to and from England direct, averages 

Days. 

For Valparaiso, ----....100 

" Lima, 110 

" Guayaquil, 120 



APPENDIX. 375 

a length of time, which is not only inconvenient for commercial objects, but which 
m some degree cuts off the British settler from correspondence with his friends 
and family, and unnecessarily prolongs the period of receiving such intelligence 
as the British Consuls in those quarters may find it expedient to convey to the 
Government. Whereas the passage by Panama might, with ease, be effected in 
the following periods : 

Days. 

From Valparaiso, - -- - . - - - 62 
" Lima, ...----..51 
" Guayaquil, ..--..--46 
as the following details will show : 

From Valparaiso to Lima, ...--.. 11 
" Lima to Payta or Guayaquil, - ... - 5 ^ 

" Payta to Panama, - - - . - -- 10 

Across the Isthmus, ----.--. 1 

Thence to England, touching at one of the Windward Islands 35 

Making in the whole, . - 62* 
Taking Lima as a central position, by this calculation, it appears that the differ- 
ence of time in conveying correspondence from the western coast of South America 
to England, may be thus stated : 

Days. 
From Lima by Cape Horn, ------ 110 

" « Panama, 51 

Difference of time in favor of the route by the West Indies, 59 

The passage from Panama to Chagres is perfectly easy, being only twenty-one 
miles by land, and the remainder by a river, safe and navigable for boats and ca- 
noes. This was the route by which the several towns and provinces on the 
Pacific Ocean made their communications with Europe, before the separation of 
the Colonies from Spain ; but the frequent revolutions which have taken place in 
South America, and the consequent poverty and want of enterprise in the Spanish 
part of the population, seem to have put a stop to the regular and periodical com- 
munications between these places, which were formerly established by public 
authority. 



The following table demonstrates that a vessel, sailing from England, and 
doubling the Cape of Good Hope, has to sail as follows : 

I. 1st, for Ceylon, - . . 10,760 miles (geographical.) 

2nd, for Calcutta, . . . 12,770 « 

3rd, for Port Jackson, . - 16,950 " 

4th, for Canton, ... 16,700 " without touching at the Indies. 

5th, for Panama, . . . 24,140 « 

II. That the same sailing from England, and doubling Cape Horn, wiU be : 



1st, for Valparaiso, 


10,840 miles. 


2nd, for Panama, - 


15,716 " 


3rd, for Canton, - 


23,156 " 


4th, for Ceylon, - 


26,616 " 


5th, for Port Jackson, . 


20,840 « 



* This IS unnecessarily long. The journey, by way ef the Isthmus, has been accomplished &oin Lima to 
Liverpool in 46 days 



376 



APPENDIX. 



Ill, That the same vessel, sailing from England, and passing through the canal 
at the Isthmus of Darien, will have to sail only : 

1st, from Europe to Panama, . - . . . 4,171 miles. 

2ncl, " Canton ,. 11,612 " 

3rd, " Valparaiso, 9,048 " 

4th, " Port Jackson, and Hobart-town, 11,530 " 

5th, " Ceylon, 15,072 " 



COMPARATIVE TABLE. 

By Cape of Go-jd Hope. ^ By Cape Horn. By Panama Canal. 

To Ceylon, - - 10,760 26,616 15,072 

To Port Jackson, - 16,650 10,840 11,536 
To Canton, - - 20,970 (touching at Calcutta.) 

16,700 23,156 11,612 

To Panama, - - 24,140 15,716 4,171 

To Valparaiso, - 25,950 10,840 9,048 

To Lima, - - 26,200 12,936 6,952 

I, Distances, in a right line, of the principal stopping-places for steamships, 

departing from Falmouth, by the Cape of Good Hope, in India, Sumatra, China, 

Australasia, Islands of Owhayi and Otaheite, and upon the Western Coast of 
America : 



From 
Falmouth 
Canary Isles 
Cape Verd 
Ascensiou Isles - 
St. Helena 
Cape of Good Hope 
Cape of Aiquilles 
Isle of France 
Ceylon 
Ceylon 
Madras 
Ceylon 
Batavia 
Swan River 
Hobart-iown 
Port Jackson 
Port Jackson 



Geographical 

To miles. Total. 

Canary Isles, ... 1,860 
Cape Verd, . . . 840 

Ascension Isles, ... 1,210 
St. Helena, ... 720 

Cape of Good Hope, - . 1,740 6,400 

Cape of Aiquilles, . . 720 

Isle of France - . - 1,820 

Ceylon, .... 1,820 

Bombay, .... 960 

Madras, .... 750 

Calcutta, .... 1,260 7,330 

Batavia, .... 1,680 

Swan River (coast of Australasia) 1,630 
Hobart-town (Van Dieman's Land) 2,160 

Port Jackson, - . - 720 6,190 

Sandwich Islands, - - 3,600 

Society Islands, Otaheite, . 3,104 6,704 



FROM ENGLAND TO CANTON. 

Geographical 

miles. Total. 

15,410 

1,780 17,190 

3,960 

3,480 ^24,630 

From which we see that, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, they sail from- 

1st, Falmouth to Calcutta, 13,730 

2nd, Falmouth to Canton, .... 17,190 

3rd, Canton to Panama, 7,440 38,360 



From 


To 


Falmouth - 


Batavia, 


Batavia 


Canton, 


Canton 


Owhayi, 


Owhayi 


Panama, 



APPENDIX 



377 



n. Distances, in a right line, of the principal stopping-places, for steamships 
sailing from Falmouth by way of Cape Horn, for Panama, Australasia, Canton, 
&c. 



From 

Falmouth - 

Terceira 

Olinda 

Rio Janeiro 

Buenos Ayres 

Cape Horn - 

Valparaiso - 

Lima - 

Falmouth - 

Panama 

Owhayi 

Falmouth 

Canton 

Batavia 

Falmouth 



From 
Falmouth - 
Terceira 
Chagres 

Panama 

Owhayi 

Falmouth • 

Falmouth 

Panama 

Lima 

Panama 

Otaheite 

Port Jackson 

Falmouth, - 

This communication might he very easily effected by the addition of a few small 
fast-sailing vessels of war, or steamers, which should make periodical visits to the 
towns I have mentioned. 

" The advantages of a direct communication between Panama and the West 
Indies, has already been felt and obtained by the practice of the admiral on the 
West India station, who is accustomed to dispatch a sailing vessel of war, at stated 
periods, to Chagres, in order to bring official and other correspondence, as well as 
specie, from the Pacific coast of South America. 

I am the more induced to make these representations, from a conversation I had 
with Commodore Mason, in which he expressed his concern, that he had not ade- 
quate force under his control to give protection to British commerce on the South 
American shore of the Pacific, and his confidence in the opinion, which has been 
much confirmed by my own observation, as well as by the report of others, more 
competent than myself, that such commerce has a tendency to increase if duly 
protected ; and that, if vessels of war were more frequently enabled to visit the 











Geographical 




To 








miles. 


Total. 


Terceira, (Azores) 




- 


1,620 




Olinda (Pernambuco) 




- 


2,520 




Rio Janeiro, 






- 


1,460 




Buenos Ayres 






- 


1,400 




Cape Horn, - 






". 


2,040— 


-9,040 


Valparaiso, - 






- 


2,200 




Lima, - 






- 


2,096 




Panama, 






. 


2,780— 


-7,076 


Panama, 






. 




16,116 


Owhayi, 






. 


3,480 




Canton, 






. 


3,960— 


—7,440 


Canton, 






- 




23,556 


Batavia, 






. 


1,780 




Ceylon, 






- 


1,680 




Ceylon, 






- 




27,016 


jected Canal at Panama : 
















Geographical 




To 








miles. 


TotaL 


Terceira, 


. 


. 


- 


1,620 




Chagres, 


- 


- 


- 


3,540 




Panama, across 


the Isthmus 


of 






Darien, 


. 


. 


- 


12- 


—5,172 


Owhayi, 


. 


. 


. 


3,480 




Canton, 


. 


. 


. 


3,960- 


—7,440 


Canton, 


, 


. 


- 




12,612 


Panama, 


- 


. 


. 


5,172 




Lima, 


. 


. 


. 


2,780 




Valparaiso, - 


. 


- 


- 


2,096- 


-10,048 


Otaheite, 


. 


- 


- 


3,540 




Port Jackson, 


- 


. 


- 


3,104 




Hobart-town, 


- 


- 


- 


720- 


—7,364 


Hobart-town, 


. 


- 


- 




17,412 



378 APPENDIX. 

ports (111 the coast from Valparaiso to Panama, better security would be afforded 
to British merchants against the revolutions, to which the property of all persons 
resident on those sliores is so often exposed, from the feebleness of the Govern- 
ments, and the successive changes which are the consequence of that weakness. 
The establishment of steamboats would render the return of correspondence, 
against the prevailing soutlierly winds, of equal rapidity. The trade-winds are 
not violent in that sea, and men-of-war, in particular, have generally made the pas- 
sage down the coast with great dispatch. However, the introduction of Steam 
Navigation in the West Indies, having already shown that merchant sailing vessels 
are disposed to carry sufficient coal in ballast, for the supply of fuel ; it is equally 
obvious that the same facilities might be afforded to carry out coal to the Pacific 
coast, until such time as, from its raised value and the increased demand for it, 
the inhabitants of those regions may think it worth their while to work the veins 
of coal, which are well known to exist at various places on the western coast.* 

London, Sept. 6, 1833. 

• South America and Pacific. Lond, 1838. Vol. II. p. 881. 



APPENDIX, 379 

No. 2. 

Since my return to the United States, I have seen the following interesting 
letters in the National Intelligencer, on American Antiquities, from Mr. Colcraft. 

It is to be hoped that he will shortly favor the public with an accurate drawing 
of the characters on the tablet. 

Grave Creek Flats, (Va.) August 23, 1843. 

I have devoted several days to the examination of the antiquities of this place 
and its vicinity, and find them to be of even more interest than was anticipated. 
The most prominent object of curiosity is the great tumulus, of which notices 
have appeared in western papers ; but this heavy structure of earth is not isolated. 
It is but one of a series of mounds, and other evidences of ancient occupation at 
this point, of more than ordinary interest. I have visited and examined seven 
mounds, situated within a short distance of each other. They occupy the summit 
level of a rich alluvial plain, stretching on the left or Virginia bank of the Ohio, 
between the junction of Big and Little Green Creeks with that stream. They 
appear to have been connected by low earthen intrenchments, of which plain 
traces are still visible on some parts of the commons. They included a well, 
stoned up in the usual manner, which is now filled with rubbish. 

The summit of this plain is probably seventy-five feet above the present summer 
level of the Ohio. It constitutes the second bench or rise of land above the water. 
It is on this summit, and on one of the most elevated parts of it, that the great 
tumulus stands. It is in the shape of a broad cone, cut off at the apex, where it 
is some fifty feet across. This area is quite level, and commands a view of the 
entire plain, and of the river above and below, and the west shore of the Ohio in 
front. Any public transaction on this area would be visible to multitudes around 
it, and it has, in this respect, all the advantages of the Mexican and Yucatanese 
teocalli. The circumference of the base has been stated at a little under nine 
hundred feet ; its height is sixty-nine feet. 

The most interesting object of antiquarian inquiry is a small flat stone, inscribed 
with antique alphabetic characters, which was disclosed on the opening of the 
large mound. These characters are in the ancient rock alphabet of sixteen right 
and acute angled single strokes, used by the Pelasgi and other early Mediterra- 
nean nations, and which is the parent of the modern Runic as well as the Bardic. 
It is now some four or five years since the completion of the excavations, so far 
as they have been made, and the discovery of this relic. Several copies of it soon 
got abroad, which difiered from each other, and, it was supposed, from the original. 
This conjecture is true : neither the print published in the Cincinnati Gazette in 
1839, nor that in the American Pioneer in 1843, is correct. I have terminated 
this uncertainty by taking copies by a scientific process, which does not leave the 
lines and figures to the uncertainty of man's pencil. 

The existence of this ancient art here could not be admitted, otherwise than as 
an insulated fact, without some corroborative evidence in habits and customs, 
which it would be reasonable to look for in the existing ruins of ancient occu- 
pancy. It is thought some such testimony has been found. I rode out yesterday 
three miles, back to the range of high hills which encompass this sub-valley, to 
see a rude tower of stone standing on an elevated point, called Parr's point, which 
commands a view of the whole plain, and which appears to have been constructed 
as a watch-tower, or look-out, from which to descry an approaching enemy. It is 



380 APPENDIX. 

much dilapidated. About six or seven feet of the work is still entire. It is cir- 
cular, and composed of rough stones, without mortar, or the mark of a hammer. 
A heavy mass of fallen wall lies around, covering an area of some forty feet iu 
diameter. Two similar points of observation, occupied by dilapidated towers, are 
represented to exist, one at the prominent summit of the Ohio and Grave Creek 
hills, and another on the promontory on the opposite side of the Ohio, in Belmont 
county, Ohio. 

It is known to all acquainted with the warlike habits of our Indians, that they 
never evinced the foresight to post a regular sentry, and these rude towers may 
be regarded as of contemporaneous age with the interment of the inscription. 

Several polished tubes of stone have been found in one of the lesser mounds, 
the use of which is not very apparent. One of these, now on my table, is twelve 
jnches long, one and a quarter wide at one end, and one and a half at the other. It 
is made of a fine, compact, lead-blue steatite, mottled, and has been constructed by 
boring, in the manner of a gun-barrel. This boring has been continued to within 
about three-eighths of an inch of the larger end, through which but a small aper- 
ture is left. If this small aperture be looked through, objects at a distance are 
more clearly seen. Whether it had this telescopic use or others, the degree of 
art evinced in its construction is far from rude. By inserting a wooden rod and 
valve, this tube would be converted into a powerful syphon or syringe. 

I have not space to notice one or two additional traits, which serve to awaken 
new interest at this ancient point of aboriginal and apparently mixed settlement, 
and must omit them till my next. Yours, truly, 

HENRY R. COLCRAFT. 



Geave Creek Flats, August 24 

The great mound, at these flats, was opened as a place of public resort about 
four years ago. For this purpose a horizontal gallery to its centre was dug and 
bricked up, and provided with a door. The centre was walled round as a rotunda, 
of about twenty-five feet diameter, and a shaft was sunk from the top to intersect 
it ; it was in these two excavations that the skeletons and accompanying relics and 
ornaments were found. All those articles are arranged for exhibition in this 
rotunda, which is lighted up with candles. The lowermost skeleton is almost 
entire, and in a good state of preservation, and is put up by means of wires, on the 
walls. It has been overstretched in the process, so as to measure six feet; it 
should be about five feet eight inches. It exhibits a noble frame of the human 
species, bearing a skull with craniological developments of a highly favorable 
character. The face bones are elongated, with a long chin and symmetrical jaw, 
in which a full and fine set of teeth, above and below, are present The skeletons 
in the upper vault, where the inscription stone was found, are nearly all de- 
stroyed. 

It is a damp and gloomy repository, and exhibits in the roof and walls of the 
rotunda one of the most extraordinary sepulchral displays which the world affords. 
On casting the eye up to the ceiling, and the heads of the pillars supporting it, it 
is found to be incrusted, or rather festooned, with a white, soft, flaky mass of . 
matter, which had exuded from the mound above. This, apparently, animal exu- 
dation is as white as snow. It hangs in pendent masses and globular drops ; the 
surface is covered with large globules of clear water, which in the reflected light 
have all the brilliancy of diamonds. These drops of water trickle to the floor, and 
occasionally the exuded white matter falls. The wooden pillars are furnished 



APPENDIX. ^ 381 

with the appearance of capitals, by this substance. That it is the result of a soil 
highly charged with particles of matter, arising from the decay or incineration of 
human bodies, is the only theory by which we m3.y account for the phenomenon. 
Curious and unique it certainly is, and with the faint light of a few candles, it 
would not require much imagination to invest the entire rotunda with sylph-like 
forms of the sheeted dead. 

An old Cherokee chief, who visitqd this scene recently, with his companions, 
on his way to the West, was so excited and indignant at the desecration of the 
tumulus, by this display of bones and relics to the gaze of the white race, that he 
became furious and unmanageable ; his friends and interpreters had to force him 
out, to prevent his assassinating the guide ; and soon after he drowned his senses 
in alcohol. 

That this spot was a very ancient point of settlement by the hunter race in the 
Ohio valley, and that it was inhabited by the present red race of North American 
Indians, on the arrival of whites west of the Alleghanies, are both admitted facts ; 
nor would the historian and antiquary ever have busied themselves further in the 
matter had not the inscribed stone come to light, in the year 1839. I was informed, 
yesterday, that another inscription stone had been found, in one of the smaller 
mounds on these flats, about five years ago, and have obtained data sufficient as to 
its present location to put the Ethnological Society on its trace. If, indeed, these 
inscriptions shall lead us to admit that the Continent was visited by Europeans 
prior to tlie era of Columbus, it is a question of very high antiquarian interest to 
determine who the visitors were, and what they have actually left on record in 
these antique tablets. 

I have only time to add a single additional fact Among the articles found in 
this cluster of mounds, the greater part are commonplace, in our Western mounds 
and town-ruins. I have noticed but one which bears the character of that unique 
type of architecture, found by Mr. Stephens and Mr. Catherwood, in Central 
America and Yucatan. With the valuable monumental standards of comparison 
furnished by these gentlemen before me, it is impossible not to recognize, in an 
ornamental stone, found in one of the lesser mounds here, a specimen of similar 
workmanship. It is in the style of the heavy feather-sculptured ornament of 
Yucatan — the material being a wax yellow sand-stone, darkened by time. I have 
taken such notes and drawings of the objects above referred to, as will enable me, 
I trust, in due time, to give a connected account of them to our incipient society. 
Yours truly, 

HENRY R. COLCRAFT. 

I have been favored with a fac-simile of this stone,- by Mr. Bartlett, the learned 
and indefatigable Secretary of our Ethnological Society, who, in his letter com- 
municating the drawings, observes : 

" I must state a curious fact in regard to the characters on this Tablet I have 
compared them with the old alphabets of Europe, and find they lassimilate strongly 
with the letters of the old Phcsnician and Anglo-Saxon. Many of the characters 
maybe found in the ancient Greek, Etruscan, Phoenician, Cimbric or Welsh, 
Celt-Iberic, Anglo-Saxon, &c. In the Celt-Jberic they predominate, as almost 
every character is to be found in that ancient alphabet. I have racked my brain 
not a little in trying to decipher them, and, though their value is easily ascer- 
tamed, they cannot be combined so as to be rendered into anything intelligible. 
It is probable that we have not a correct fac-simile ; but this will now be remedied, 
as Mr. Colcraft will take an impression in wax of the whole tablet" 



382 APPENDIX 



No. 3. 



Since tliis volume went to press, I have been favored with the following very 
instructive letter, from Horatio Hale, Esq., the learned philologist who accom- 
panied the Exploring Expedition, under the command of Captain Wilkes. 

It is pleasant, when groping backward through the labyrinth of time, to have, 
now and then, some tangled threads of the lost clue thrown into our hands ; 
and I liave no doubt that, when the result of this eminent scholar's labors are 
placed before the public, they will obtain for him a reputation commensurate with 
his genius and industry. 

" Philadelphia, October, 1843. 
" My deak Sir : 

" It gives me pleasure to learn, that you are still occupied with your work 
on Mexico, which has been long expected with great interest. There are few 
countries, so far as I could judge, which contain more that is worthy of being 
described ; and fewer still, of which so little is accurately known. 

" As to the inquiries contained in your letter, I am happy to find that we have 
arrived, by different roads, at the same conclusion, with regard to the origin of the 
Mexican Tribes, and the direction in which their migration took place. The results 
of such researches as I have been able to make into the languages of the western 
coast of America, though not of a positive nature, seem to me strongly to favor 
the views which you seem to entertain, of the progress of the emigrant tribes from 
their probable crossing-place at Behring's Straits, along the coast — or rather, be- 
tween the coast and the Rocky Mountains — to the Mexican plateau. 

" Very soon after commencing my investigations in Oregon, I was struck by two 
facts of considerable importance. First ; that the numbers of distinct families of 
languages, or independent races, was greater than was to be found, in so small a 
space, in any part of the known world ; and, secondly ; that, in several cases, the 
different tribes, or subdivisions of a family, were dispersed at great distances from 
each other, and surrounded by several tribes speaking distinct languages. I ob- 
served, that these scattered bands were generally disposed in a line from north to 
south. It seemed, therefore, not an unreasonable supposition, that if the numer- 
ous hordes which have, at different periods, overrun the Mexican plains, proceeded 
in this direction, they may have left along their track, from time to time, detached 
parties, which, from some motive of discontent, would separate from the main body, 
and allow it to proceed without them. This would account, both for the number of 
small tribes speaking distinct languages, and for the manner in which those speak- 
ing the same language, are dispersed through the region. 

" As an example, I may mention the Athabascan family or race, which occupies 
the northern part of our Continent, next to the Esquimaux, and which has been 
found on our northwest coast, within a hundred miles of Behring's Straits. The 
Carrier Indians, who live north of the Oregon Territory, in about 55'-' latitude, 
belong to this family. Five hundred miles south of these, not far to the north of 
the Columbia, I found a small tribe whose language showed them to have had the 
same origin with the Carriers. Still farther south, on the other bank of the Co- 
'umbia, and separated from the last-mentioned by the Chinook tribe, was another 



APPENDIX. 383 

detached band of the same affinity ; and a hundred miles south of these, on the 
tJraqua river, was the tribe from which it derives its name, speakinsr also a cog- 
nate language. Here is a single chain, reaching from about latitude 65*^ to 43°, 
or more than half-way from Behring's Straits to the City of Mexico. It may, 
perhaps, hereafter, be carried still farther, as my researches did not extend much 
beyond the last-mentioned point. 

"I may also observe, that the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, are found, first, 
on the head waters of the Columbia — then near the head of the California Gulf; 
and, again — under the dreaded name of Cumanches, pushing their incursions into 
the heart of Texas. 

" In the later history of this tribe — the Shoshonees proper — there is a fact worthy 
of notice. I was assured by trustworthy persons, long resident in that region, 
that the Snake Indians had formerly lived considerably north of the present posi- 
tion — occupying the territory now in the possession of the powerful Blackfeet 
confederacy — who have expelled them from their ancient hunting-grounds ; and, 
it was asserted, that there were old men now living among the Shoshonees, who 
had a better knowledge of the country, at present occupied by the Blackfeet In- 
dians, than any of the latter themselves, ily informants, (old fur-traders.) gave 
it as their belief, that all the tribes in that region were gradually advancino- toward 
the south. In this instance, the movement of the Blackfeet tribes is not wholly 
voluntary, as they are constantly harassed on the north by hostile bands of Crees 
and Sioux ; while the Shoshonees, in their southward progress, press before them 
the Uchis and Apaches, with whose ravages on the northern borders of Mexico 
you are, of course, well acquainted. 

" We are famUiar with a similar movement on the old Continent, and understand 
how it originates in the hardy valor of northern regions, forcing its way toward 
a more genial clunate and a more bountiful soil. We can also perceive how, 
among wandering tribes, like our Western Indians — ^by nature migratory, and 
bound by no ties of cultivation to the land which they occupy — this movement 
should be comparatively rapid ; and we can thus see how a large body (like the 
Blackfeet nation, for instance.) might, within a few generations, be urg-ed onward, 
step by step, from the northern sea to the Mexican plains. It has seemed to me 
that this fact might be of some importance, as serving to illustrate the history 
(given by Humboldt,) which the Aztecs had preserved of their migration, and with, 
which you must be familiar. I refer more particularly to their gradual proarress, 
(by stages, as it were.) making long halts from time to time, and again taking up 
their line of march toward the south. I have not this account before me now, 
but on reading it a few months ago, I thought I could trace in the epithets which 
they afnxed to their different encampments, (if we may apply this term to their 
halting-places,) some of the features of the country west of the Rocky Moun; 
tains. 

" It is evident that these deductions would be reduced to certainty, if we could 
discover some resemblance between any of the languages of Oregon and those of 
Mexico. Thus far. however, the comparison has not been attended with success. 
Of the ticenty distinct languages, spoken within the limits of Ancient Mexico, 
which have been reduced to writing by the Catholic Missionaries, I have been 
able to obtain grammars of only five. The collection which you aided me in ma- 
king in Mexico, is, indeed, the largest that I know of in this country. In Europe, 
however, all that has been pubhshed on these subjects, and many valuable manu- 
scripts, are preserved ; and. at some future day, an opportunity may offer of com- 
pleting the comparison." 



APPENDIX 



No. 4 . 



LIST OF PRICES, 

OF RENTS, PEOVISIONS, ETC., TO HOUSEKEEPERS IN THE CITT OF MEXICO. 



Beef, 

Mutton 

Hams, 

Ducks, 

Turkeys, 

Fowls, 

Pigeons, 



12J cents per 20 oz. 



12i 

50 

37i 

50 

50 

25 



18 
lb. 
pair, 
each. 
(( 

pair. 



Pescao-blanco, from the lake, 62J cents per 
lb. 



VEGETABLES, TEA, COFFEE, ETC. 



Onions, 

Artichokes, 

Cauliflowers 

Cabbages, 

Peas, 

Corn, 

Barley, 

Rice, 

Radishes, 

Potatoes, 



12^ cents per dozen. 
25 

12i " each (small) 
12^ to 25 cents each. 
25 cents per pint. 
$5 to $6 per carga of 400 lbs. 



12^ cents per lb 



12i 



Beans (frigoles) 12^ 

Chil6 peppers, 31^ 

Tomatoes, 12^ 

Bread, 6:i 



2^ dozen, 
quart. 
« 

lb. 

dozen, 
cents for four small 



loaves, 16 ounces, in all. 

6^ cents per 16 oz 

:n >( IK 



Biscuits, 

Chocolate, 

Tea, 

Coffee, 

Sugar (refined) 

Sugar (white) 



Pines, 

Chirimoyas, 

Peaches, 



50 



lb. 



$2 to $3 per lb. 
25 to 37i cents per lb. 
I8f cents per lb. 
12i 



FRUITS. 



12^ cents each. 
6| to 12^ cents each. 
64 cents for four. 
25 



Oranges, 

Plantains, 

Grapes, 

Walnuts, 

Melons, 

Avocates, 

Apples, 

Tunas, 

Lemons, 

Guyavas, 

Granaditas, 



Milk, 

Pulqu^, 

Water, 

Aguardiente, 

Mescal, 

Chicha, 

Orgeat, 

Agua de chia, 



Charcoal, 



Cook, 

Coachman, 

Waiter, 

Housekeeper, 

Chambermaid; 

Scullion, 



6i " six. 
6i " four. 
25 « lb. 

6^ " forty. 
6^ to 12^ cents each. 
6^ cents for four. 



12i 
6i 
6i 
H 
6i 



dozen. 



eight, 
four. 



6^ cents per quart. 



6i 
6i 

18J 

25 
6i 
6i 
H 



three quarts 
barrel. 

quart. 
(( 

three pints, 
quart. 



FUEL. 

6^ cents for six lbs. 



SERVANTS. 

$4 to $6 per month. 

15 to 20 « 

15 « 

8 to 10 " 

3 to 4 " 

3 to 4 « 



They vary according to situation, bnt 
they are very high throughout the Capital ; 
$500— $2500 ; and even higher rates are 
given for the very best. 



INDEX. 



ALA.MBDA 44 

Arrierns 18 

Aguador 43 

Alameda of Mexico 45 

Agav6 Americana 76 

Ancient vase ftom Tula 107—108 

Compared 108 

Armor of Alvarado 108 

Ancient Mexican sacrifices 120 

Ancient Mexican calendar 126 

Ancient arms and armor 135 

Armas de Agua 163 

An Alcalde 191 

Alcalde's secretary 193 

Acaclanca 204 

A country Beauty 204 

A caravaggio scene 204 

Ayotla 205 

Aztuk words 216 

Ancient remains on this Continent 237 

Ancient remains in the United States 237 

Ancient caves 240 

Ancient paintings in caverns 239 

Antiquities 84 

Altars 92 

Alvarado's armor 108 

Ancient pyramids 264 

Archbishop's palace 265 

Arbol Mainta 266 

Acordada 268 

Academy of Arts 271 

Ancient Mexican priests 115 

Aqueducts, Spanish 283 

American Antiquities, letter on 379 



BarrancaSeca. 19 

Beggars 55—80 

Butchers 54 

Beggar boy, story of the 57 

BuU fight 58 

Reflections on 61—62 

Barrancas 178-179 

Broad seal in Mexico 192 

Bnrialof Santa Anna's leg 207 

of Vivanco 228 

Bloody scenes during the Revolution 230 

Beautiful residence 235 

BuUSancho 236 

Botanic garden 266 

Base of Teoyaomiqui 114 

Bath of Montezuma 233—234 

Builders of ancient cities 254 

Bustamante, elected President 340 

Coffee of Perote. 15—19 

Cholula, Town of. 32 

Casa Municipal 40 

Canals 41 

Chenampas 42 

Climate of Mexico 46 

Court ceremonies 70—71 

Cock-fighting 78 

Calvarioball 78 

Commission of A Ivarado 108 

Crosses found in Mexico, &c 113 

Colleges of antiquity 118 

Common sacrifice 120 



PAOI. 

City of Mexico, as it was at the Conquest. 131 

Cort^z's description of. 131 

Splendor of. 131— 13S 

Conquest of the Capital and destruction of. 137 

Chapultepec 1S6 

Cruz del Marques 169 

Cigarritos (form of) 169 

Cuernavaca 171 

Hotel at 171 

Church at 173 

Casa Municipal >172 

Situation of. 178 

Climate of. 172 

Old Conventof 172 

Scenery of. 173 

Chasms on plains 179 

Cocoyotla 189 

Comparison of Indians and Negroes 202 

Cuautla 208 

Valley of. 204 

Cortina, collection of. 272 

Cacahuawamilpa, cave of. 192 

Cuautla de Amilpas 198—203 

Contador, the 235 

Commerce of the United States and Mexico 310 

Cotton factories 313 

Crops, value of. 814 

Custom House returns for 1841 318 

Church, wealth and influence of the 326 

Conventual establishments, number and property of. 329 

Cortez, sketch of. 332 

Conquest of Mexico, character of those who aided 

in the 332 

Calleja, inhumanity of. 335 

Coaches and mules, Mexican 284 

Character of the Mexicans 292 

Commerce and manufactures of Mexico 306 

Custom House, products of the . .305 

Central Government 339 

Constitution of the 339 

Constitution of the Republic 3fl 

Church property, distribution of. 351 

California, Lower 362 

Pearl fishery of. 362 

California, Upper 362 

Missions in 362 

Description of. 368 

Productions of 363 

Trade with 364 

Diligences 9 

Desierto, the.... 158 

Duck-shooting in Mexico 219 

Domestic altars 92 

Del Barrios r75 

Doctor Morton's opinion of the American Indians. .260 



Evangelistas 39 

Equipages • 46 

Egerton's murder 157 

Earthquakes 214 

Excursion to Tezcoco 217 

Executions, mode of. 272 

Egyptian hieroglyphics 259 

Expenses of the government, civil list 322 

Army and Navy 324 

£dacatioii, estimate of. 301 



388 



INDEX 



PAOB. 

Exports from the Republic 30H 

Exports and Imports, comparative estimate of. 306 

England, encroachments of. 357 

Policy and foresiglit of. 369 

Frugality of tlie Mexicans 17 

Friars and Priests 44 

Fire worship 129 

Feasts of liuman flesh 122 

Features of the Tierra Caliente 169 

Funereal rites 227 

Fossil bones 231—232 

Indian superstition in regard to 231 

Funeral vase 101 

Fandango 177 

Federal Government 337 

Constitution of the 337 

First Congress of the 337 

French fleet in the American seas 367 

Girl with reboso 47 

Gran Sociedad 48 

Gambling 77 

Gladiatorial sacrifice 123 

Gladiatorial Stone 123 

Good Friday 155 

Garden at Cuernavaca 172 

Grove of the Contador 235 

God of Silence 86 

Grooves on hatchets 98 

Glass factories 315 

Government negotiations, character of the 321 

Guanajuato, butchery of the iphabitants of the 335 

Geographical position of Mexico 295 

Guerrero elected President 338 

Overthrow and execution of. 338 

Housekeeping 48 

Euitzilopotchtli 112 

House of Mirrore 118 

Human sacrifices 121 

Mode of 121 

Number of victims 125 

Ilayden's murder 141 

Holy week ceremonials 152 

Horseback journies, 162 

Hill of Flowers 180 

Housekeeping of a Eanchero 190 

Hacienda of St. Inez 202 

Hospitality of do 202 

Hoochietipec 205 

Hammocks 205 

Hard words 216 

Hunting bull 235—237 

Houses of the Sun and Moon 223 

Hidalgo's trick 230 

Huejutla 231 

History— Sandwich Islands 358 

Hatchets 98 

Household gods 1Q2 

Holy Week 149 

Holy Thui-sday 151 

Heretics burned 155 

Hacienda of Temisco 174 

Hand flower £66 

Hacienda of San Nicholas 196 

Santa Inez 198 

Hawaiian Islands, Americans on the 3C1 

Missionaries on the 361 

Iztaccihuatl 33 

Indian porters 43 

Iturbide, autograph of. 75 

Indian sacrament ,,., 112 

Women 142- 



PAOK. 

Indian Hotdi n^ 

Shepherd 167 

With panniers , ig7 

Villages 170 

Character and Condition 170 

Diplomacy ; 193 

Degradation 201 

Slavery 201—202 

And Negroes 203 

Words 216 

Hatchets 98 

Women and infants 143 

Villages 175 

Alcalde 192 

Races within the United States 257 

Interior of a Raiicho 190 

Interview with an Indian Alcald6 191 

Interior of the pyramids of Teotihuacan 223 

Indio Triste 88 

Idol worshippers, the 254 

Inhabitants of Pa!enque,&c 261—263 

Imports from the United States 310 

Iturbide, accession.dethronement and banishment of.3y6 

The return and execution of. 337 

Idols found at Tula 275 

Figures of unknown Mexican 277—278 

Idol found in Oajaca 279 

Insurrection of 1841 340 

Its causes .341 

Inaccessibility of Mexico 347 

Isthmus of Panama, advantages of the 374 

Jalapa— Journey to 9 

Description of. 15 

Beautiful women of. 16 

Judases 155 

Journey to the Tierra Caliente 159 

Journies on horseback 162 

Juan Gonzales 204 

Litera 7 

Las Vigas 19 

La Hoya 19 

Letter writers 39 

Lonja 40 

Leperos 41 

Laborde 172 

Licences 192 

Lake of Tezcoco 218 

Of the valley 218 

Qualities of. 218 

Lasso , 229 

The benefits of 188 

La Molina 235 

Ladies in church 152 

Laborde, history of. 172 

Garden of. .173 

Lakes near the City of Mexico, position and level of.282 

Mexican frugality 17 

Soldiei-s< 10 

Fruits 16 

Medal 39 

Politeness 50 

Lady going to mass 51 

Beauty ,.,. 52 

Mythology 109 

Heaven 109 

Hell 110 

Deities lU 

Serape 162 

Horsemen 163 

Spur 164 

Fleas 204 

Hospitality 206 

Earthquakes 214 

Words 216 



INDEX. 



389 



Mexican Udou ^ 

Sportsmen -^ 

Talent for sculpture...... yM 

Lakes, the character ot the waters, note. .Ho 

Manuscript ^ 

Cosmogony '' ^ 

Teocallis ^ 

Mexico, Road to ^ 

Valley of. ^ 

City of. 36 

Approach of. °1 

Appearance of. ™ 

View from the Cathedral 38 

Cathedra! of. 40 

Alameda of. *^ 

J-ivingin f° 

Market inMexico ^ 

Moonlight of Mexico ^ 



Monte., 



Montezuma and his Court 1^3 

Style of 134 

Miquahuitl |36 

Montezuma's presentiments 1^ 

Murder of the Swiss Consul 1^ 

Mairet's murder }-^ 

Murder of H ayden 1^^ 

Murder of Mr. Egerton ^^ 

Mules 163 

Mountain views i°X 

Miraculous breakfast •l'~ 

Molie de Guagelote |^ 

Michapas 1°^ 

Miguel Benito 1™ 

Mr. Webster in Mexico 1^1 

Modes of sleeping ^ffi 

Meztli-ytzagUiil - '''3 

Micoatl.... 2^3 

Measurements of the ruins of Teotihuaoan 223 

Montezuma's inkstand ^ 

Milperos and blackbirds ^ 

Madame Santa Anna • 227 

Montezuma's bath 234 

Museum ^^ 

Marble vases ^St 

Mint -^ 

Monte Pio f^ 

Mineria -^ 

Miacatlan 1°° 

Musical Indians 1^ 

Mapilca, ruins of. ■ r^ 

Misantla, ruins of. ■ 230 

Milla, ruins of. •■ f'] 

Manufacturing establishments, value of 3i4 

Mines, production of the 32» 

Mexican Revolution, outline of the 33o 

Origmofthe 33o 

Mexico, inundation of the city ^ 

Mortality in the Capital ^ 

Mexican tribes, origin of the «» 



39-265 
....202 



National Palace 

Negroes and Indians ■ 

Nanahuatzin ^ 

JNatividad 231 

Nuestra Seilora de Loreto 153 

Native musicians 107 

National debt 320 

Native family, private life of a 233 

Newspapers and Periodicals, statement of. 303 

Naturalization laws 349 

Orange groves 189 

Otumba 222 

Origin of Mexican lldolatry 89 

Peak of Tepiacualca ix-'m 

Perote 20-21 



PAOV. 

Puebla, description of......... • 23 

Alameda 24 

Cathedral -24 

Precious lamp 24 

Virgin Mary in ^ 

Pyramid of Cholula -"-26 

Description of. 26—27 

Legend of. 28 

Building of. 28 

Quetzalcoatl • -^ 

Feathered serpents of. 31—33 

Plaza of Mexico ^ 

Parian ^ 

Passeo de la Viga ™ 

President Santa Anna 42 

Passeo Nuevo ^ 

Pulque -76 

Priests of Antiquity jt? 

Population of the mountains -loj 

Pyramid of Xochicalco.. o"^, 

Popocatepetl ^*~?^ 

Crater of. ^08 

Ascent of. 209 

Pico del Fraile 213 

Measurements of. 215 

Geology of. 214 

Outline of. 216 

Pyramids of San Juan Teotihuacan ^ 

Plan of the ruins of do ^ 

Priests of the pyramids of do 2ao 

Perro Mudo •* 

Palm Sunday ^ 

Palace of the Archbishop ^ 

Of the Government •265 

r, ■ ^. ...... — 2pS 

Prison „Tft 

Statistics ^ 

PeSasco, collection of. 273 

Primitive village 175 

Indians i 175 

Papantla, pyramid of. 248 

Ruins of. -249 

Peopling of America .255 

Peruvian remains 257 

Wat«r vessels 25' 

Palace of the Incas '»a8 

Popocatepetl, flora of. 210 

ascent of. 298 

Political history 332 

Population of New Spain in 1793 290 

1803 300 

1830 300 

1842 300 

Pedraza Gomez elected President 337 

Political prospects ^ 

Panama Mission 368 

Pacific Ocean, steam navigation on 309 

Peak of Orizaba 1—15—19 

Puente Nacjonal ^ 

Puentedel Rey H- 

Plan del Rio ^ 

Description of. 23 

Puerto de San Lazaro 37 

Quetzalcoatl... •■•• ••■29 

duemada • 240 

Ruins of. -241 

Robbers 14-g 

Rebosos 53 

Revolution of 1841 ™ 

Rancho de Michapas 1^ 

Rancheros household I™ 

Remains near the Pyramids of Teotihuacan 224 

Revolutionary jugglery 230 

Ruins northwest of Chihuahua 239 

Revolution • • • • • °1 

Ruins of Xochicalco 180 



390 



I N D E X. 



PAOE. 

Revenue and resources 317 

Railway, scheme to construct a 283 

Recruits, manner of raising 286 

Return home 355 

Specie imported into the United States from Mexico. 311 

Statistics of trade 311 

Manufactures 312 

Santa F6 Expedition, note 312 

Trade 318 

Smuggling, extent of. 319 

Sinking Fund, creation of the 322 

Stamps or Seals 273 

Serpents, figures of. 276 

Schools and Seminaries 302 

Scotch and York Lodges 337 

Santa Anna, Alinister of War 338 

Spanish power subdued by 338 

Revolutionary movements of. 338 

Elected President , 339 

Proclaimed Dictator 339 

Captured by the Texans 339 

Cunning of, note 340 

Reelected President 341 

Power of. 345 

Personal appearance of. 73 

Presentation to 72 

Autograph of. 75 

Dinner with 74 

Suggestions as to the mode of the regeneration of 

Mexico 352 

Shoshones, or Snake Indians 383 

San M ichael 19 

San Martin ; 33 

Salt Lakes 36 

Social features 49 

San Agustin 76 

Festival at 76—77 

Sacrificial knife 122 

Sacrificial yoke 121 

Saa Cosm6 140 

San Augustine de las Cuevas 162 

Serape 162 

Sombrero 163 

Spur 164 

Story of Laborde 172 

Santa Inez 201 

Sefior Vargas 202 

Santa Anna's leg 207 

Stratagems of a hunter 235 

Sculpture 83 

Small Idols 91 

San Nicolas, Hacienda of. 196 

San Inez, do 198 

Senor Vargas 202 

Tortilas 17 

The beggar boy (story of) 57 

Teoyaomiqui 109—113 

Teocalli of Mexfco 118 

Temples in the Capital 118 

Tradition in relation to the conquest 139 

Tacubaya 157 

Tierra Caliente 159 

Features of. IfiS 

Tetecala 188 

Tenango 205 

Tezcoco, Lake of. 218 

Scenery of. • 210 

Depth of. 218 

Town of 220 

Ancient town 220 

Pyramids of. 221 

Ancient bricks of. 221 

Palace of Montezuma 221 

Puente de las Brigantinas 221 

Ancient group from 221 ^ 



Tonatiuh Ytzagual ^ 

Tradition of the pyramids of Teotihiiacan ."!.".'!." !!!223 

lezcosingo »» 

Theatre balls .'...!!.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.*.'.'.'.".' 149 

Temisco '.'.'.'.','.'. * 174 

Tetecala "| _" jgj 

Teocallis ' iigllin 

Teopans .'.'.!!!!'.'.'! ii» 

Tezcosingo, Hill of. '."!!!!'.! !!!!!233 

Tusapan, Temple of .'.'.'.'!!.'.'.'.'247 

Statue and fountain at 248 

Tio Ignacio '253 

'I'emple of Pachacamac , 258 

Tabella Plicalis .'.'.".'.'.'.258 

Troops, parades and discipline of the 285 

Theatres in Mexico .',237 

Thieving, impudent and adroit .288 

Territory of the Mexican Repubhc 299 

Trade with Tampico, American and Foreign.. 308-209 

Metamoras 300 

Table of distances, and hours steaming from Pana- 
ma to various parts 37X 



Use of the Lasso. 



Voyage to Vera Cru2 1 

Vera Cruz 3 

Appearance of town of. 4 

Alameda of. . , ^....S 

Diseases of. Jj . . . .7 

Baptisms and burials of. 7 

Water-fall at 8 

Commerce of the port of 307 

Blockaded by the French 340 

Vomito 8 

Vergara, Hotel of 37 

Virgin in the Cathedral 41 

Virgin of Guadalupe 63 

Her festival 63 

Her churches 64 

Her legends 65 

Her picture 67 

Her offerings 68' 

Her sonnet 69 

Her indulgences 69 

Virgm of Dolores, festival of. 149 

Virgin of Remedios 142—146 

Festival of. 145 

Legend of. ;.145 

Description of. 148 

View from San Augustin 79 

Vale of Cuernavaca 169 

Village gamblers 2*^ 

Viaticum 227 

Vases and Cups 93—94—95 

From Tula IW 

Value of sugar estate 174 

Victoria elected President 337 

Revolutionary movements against 337 

Whipping Indians 201 

Wax figures 83 

Woollen blankets, manufacture of. 315 

Xochicalco 180 

Reliefs on 182-183 

Examination of. 184 

Caverns of. 184 

Subterranean vaults 185 

Tradition of. 185 

Restoration of pyramid -ISB 

Xolotl .2!ffi 

Sun and Moon, origin of. 225 



Zopilote, the dance of,, 



.331 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 279 143 7 






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■y^ft 






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